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The AI in Business Podcast is for non-technical business leaders who need to find AI opportunities, align AI capabilities with strategy, and deliver ROI.
Each week, Emerj Artificial Intelligence Research CEO Daniel Faggella interviews top AI executives from Fortune 500 firms and unicorn startups – to uncover trends, use-cases, and best practices for practical AI adoption.
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The podcast The AI in Business Podcast is created by Daniel Faggella. The podcast and the artwork on this page are embedded on this page using the public podcast feed (RSS).
Today’s guest is Virginia Dignum, Director of the AI Policy Lab, Professor of Computer Science at Umeå University, and an Associated Professor at Delft University of Technology. In this special episode of the “AI Futures” series on the AI in Business podcast, we offer an exclusive sample from the Trajectory podcast, hosted by Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella. Together, Virginia and Daniel hypothesize what human governance over artificial general intelligence (AGI) might look like, and the many challenges NGOs and international bodies face today in creating the foundations for these governing structures. Virginia challenges the prevalent AGI narrative, advocating instead for a focus on what she terms “Human General Intelligence” (HGI), emphasizing collaboration and human-machine augmentation over existential AI risks. The discussion explores why governing AI requires a socio-technical approach, ensuring accountability rests with humans rather than machines. Virginia also highlights the importance of global governance to address both the risks and equitable benefits of AI, touching on her hands-on experience with international policy groups. If you’re interested in getting more perspectives on AI’s longer term impact on business and society, be sure to tune into the Trajectory podcast. You can find the YouTube and podcast links here: emerj.com/tj2
Today’s guest is Sambit Dutta, Vice President of Digital Strategy for Nestlé’s US operations. Sambit joins us on the program to discuss how digital transformation is reshaping the procurement and supply chain functions, especially within the food and beverage industry. From navigating challenges in supply chain resilience to building AI-driven efficiencies, Sambit provides insights into the dynamic factors shaping the future of these critical functions. This episode is part of a special series on AI in procurement workflows sponsored by Arkestro. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Meghna Mittal, Director of AI and Innovation at Anthem. Meghna joins us on today’s program to tackle the complexities of digital transformation in healthcare. From privacy regulations to cultural resistance, she sheds light on the challenges unique to this highly regulated industry. With a deep dive into how AI and automation are shaping administrative efficiency, Meghna explains how non-patient-facing technology can create a more effective and streamlined patient experience. This episode is sponsored by Hyperscience. Sign up for the automation webinar with Hyperscience CTO Brian Weiss at https://bit.ly/webinar-embracing-hyperautomation. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Shrimanth Adla, Senior Director of Credit Risk at Comcast. Shrimanth’s views expressed on today’s show are his own and do not speak for Comcast as an organization. He joins us in a special Riskified-sponsored episode to talk about the challenges in credit risk across retail and telecom spaces. Throughout the episode, Shrimanth shares his insights into the evolving risks and strategies needed to address them effectively. He breaks down the nuanced differences between credit and fraud risk, explaining how intent shapes both challenges and responses. From assessing customer creditworthiness to anticipating fraud tactics, Shrimanth illustrates how businesses can strike a balance between prevention and maintaining strong customer relationships. This episode is sponsored by Riskified. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Scott Gutterman, Senior Vice President of Digital and Broadcast Technologies at the PGA Tour. Scott joins us on today’s show to discuss the challenges in live sports announcing that make golf a unique customer experience. As the discussion progresses, Scott outlines how the technologies PGA is driving in partnership with AWS and NLP Logix stand to revolutionize how fans of every sport will absorb information across entire leagues and simultaneous tournaments. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Nick Bostrom, a prominent philosopher and the Director of the Future of Humanity Institute (FHI) at Oxford University. He also leads the Governance of AI Program (GovAI) within the FHI. Renowned globally, his expertise spans existential risk, the anthropic principle, ethics surrounding human enhancement, whole brain emulation, superintelligence risks, and the reversal test. In this special episode of the “AI Futures” series on the AI in Business podcast, we offer an exclusive sample from the Trajectory podcast, hosted by Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella. This excerpt features a fascinating conversation with Nick centering on the concept of a “worthy successor”—post-human intelligences that could expand beyond human capabilities while preserving essential human values. Drawing from his latest book, Deep Utopia, Bostrom explores the potential for AI to “go right,” offering a rare glimpse of optimism for the future of artificial intelligence and its alignment with moral progress. If you’re interested in getting more perspectives on AI’s longer term impact on business and society, be sure to tune into the Trajectory podcast. You can find the YouTube and podcast links here: emerj.com/tj2
Today’s guest is Chloë Domergue, Principal in the Human Capital Practice at Deloitte. Chloë joins us on today’s program to explore the evolving impact of AI and agentic systems within the life sciences sector. She shares her unique perspective on how technological advancements, particularly generative and agentic AI, are reshaping not just operations but the fundamental nature of the workforce. Together with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello, Chloë dives into the pressing challenges life sciences organizations face, such as hiring and upskilling talent for a future where AI-driven agents work alongside humans. This episode is sponsored by Deloitte. Find out more about sponsored content and how to engage with the Emerj audience at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Mark McLaughlin, Director of Insurance for the Global Industries Unit at IBM. Mark joins us on today’s podcast to explore how AI is transforming the insurance industry. With over three decades of experience, Mark dives into the biggest hurdles in today’s insurance workflows and highlights why AI solutions are more crucial than ever. Later in the episode, he and Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello unpack the role of AI in addressing evolving consumer demands, such as personalized and proactive risk management, and how insurance companies can better support customers when disasters loom. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Yigal Edery, Special Vice President of Product and Strategy at Sisense. Sisense is an API-first analytics platform that modernizes businesses by seamlessly integrating in-context analytics within applications, leading to action-oriented insights that enhance decision intelligence. Yigal joins us today to explore the challenges and solutions in building efficient analytics for software applications. He highlights the obstacles faced by startups and software developers, particularly in extracting meaningful insights from data and embedding those insights seamlessly into their products. This episode is sponsored by Pieces. To learn more about Emerj Media and how to reach the Emerj audience, visit emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Ahmed Azam, Head of Infrastructure and Cloud Services at Northwestern Mutual. Ahmed joins Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello to explore the organization’s transformative journey in adopting cloud technology. With roots tracing back to 1857, Northwestern Mutual has continuously evolved, leveraging technological advancements to maintain a competitive edge. Ahmed shares insightful stories about the company’s pioneering history, including its early adoption of mainframe computing and the more recent integration of cloud-based solutions. This episode is sponsored by MinIO. Find out more about sponsored content and how to engage with the Emerj audience at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Vickram Srivastava, Head of North American Supply Chain at SUN Pharma. SUN Pharma is a global pharmaceutical corporation based in Mumbai, India. The company produces and distributes pharmaceutical formulations and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) to over 100 countries worldwide. Vickram joins us on today’s program to share his expertise on the critical challenges facing the sector, particularly in the wake of global disruptions and increasing regulatory demands. This episode is sponsored by Arkestro. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Venkatesh Palani, Senior Director and Head of Engineering for Risk and Trust at eBay. Venkatesh joins us on today’s show to discuss the evolving challenges and solutions within the fraud and risk space in eCommerce. As AI and digital tools have democratized, fraudsters have leveraged these technologies, making prevention and mitigation efforts more complex. Venkatesh offers insight into how retail leaders can tackle these issues, from identity verification complications arising from deepfake technologies to the rising sophistication of phishing attacks. This episode is sponsored by Riskified. To learn more about Emerj Media and how to reach the Emerj audience, visit emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Kimberly Powell, Vice President of Healthcare and Life Sciences at NVIDIA. Kimberly joins us to discuss how AI is reshaping the healthcare landscape. As generative AI adoption accelerates, Kimberly shares her insights on the major challenges the healthcare industry faces, particularly in terms of technology infrastructure. Together, we explore the critical need for hybrid strategies that blend on-premise and cloud computing, enabling real-time data processing for medical imaging, clinical operations, and more. Kimberly emphasizes the importance of developing infrastructure capable of supporting these advanced AI applications to improve patient care and operational efficiency. To discover more AI use cases, best practice guides, white papers, frameworks, and more, join Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Dean Carignan, Partner Program Manager in the Office of the Chief Scientist at Microsoft. Dean shares insights from his upcoming book with Microsoft, The Insider’s Guide to Innovation at Microsoft, highlighting the company’s Responsible AI (RAI) journey and principles that guide its deployments. Throughout the episode, Dean discusses the importance of RAI principles—Fairness, Reliability & Safety, Privacy & Security, Inclusiveness, Transparency, and Accountability—and the rationale behind adopting these pillars alongside a sort of enterprise AI Constitution. This episode is sponsored by OneTrust. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Eric Wilson, Director of Internal Audit and Chief Audit Executive of Gulfport Energy. Gulfport Energy is a natural gas-focused exploration and production company operating independently. It specializes in exploring, acquiring, and producing natural gas, crude oil, and natural gas liquids (NGL) within the United States, with key activities centered in the Appalachia and Anadarko basins. With his extensive experience in the energy and retail sectors, Eric shares his insights on the critical challenges auditors face today, especially as they navigate the complexities of emerging AI capabilities. We explore how the oil and gas industry, among others, is integrating AI and advanced technologies. This episode is sponsored by MindBridge. Find out more about sponsored content and how to engage with the Emerj audience at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Jennifer Sieber, Global Head of Procurement for Systems and Insights at Gilead Sciences. Jennifer joins today’s podcast to share her perspectives on overcoming the operational complexities global procurement faces, especially when aiming to optimize data and maintain agility in a competitive 2024 landscape. Jennifer begins highlighting the ongoing transformation at Gilead, emphasizing that efficient procurement begins with data integrity and a unified process architecture. Later, she shares how her team is addressing these through data cleansing, integration into a data lake, and using AI to support data mapping and visualization, which are essential steps toward creating a more proactive, data-driven procurement strategy. This episode is sponsored by Arkestro. To learn more about Emerj Media and how to reach the Emerj audience, visit emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Saurin Patel, Digital Transformation & Analytics Lead at Symrise AG. Symrise AG is a German chemicals company specializing in flavors and fragrances, with sales reaching 4.6 billion euros in 2022. Saurin joins us in the program to give listeners a deep dive into the complex journey of digital transformation within procurement and supply chain functions, particularly in the food and beverage (F&B) sector. The conversation addresses critical challenges that arise from operating in multiple countries and managing a vast network of suppliers and acquisitions. To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI, and strategy, visit Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Mark Surman, President of the Mozilla Foundation. In conversation with Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella from 2023, Mark speaks at length about the shifting paradigms of privacy, security, and data governance in the age of generative AI. Throughout the episode, Mark explains how privacy concerns have evolved from simple data protections in the early days of the internet to complex issues involving data provenance, consumer trust, and ethical AI governance. As businesses increasingly rely on AI-powered services, leaders must address not only compliance but also new expectations around customer respect and transparency. Their conversation highlights the importance of building privacy and governance expertise into leadership teams, encouraging proactive engagement with evolving regulations and emerging technologies. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Patrick Simonnet, Chief Audit Executive for Bank of China’s US operations. Patrick joins us on today’s show to explore the evolving landscape of financial risk management. As technology reshapes the financial sector, Patrick shares practical use cases of generative AI in audit workflows and cybersecurity, touching on how these technologies assist financial institutions in staying ahead of increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks. His conversation with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello also covers the long-term future of audit, emphasizing the importance of merging data science skills with traditional audit practices. This episode is sponsored by MindBridge. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Joe Gelman, Platform Marketing Manager at Riskified. Riskified is a publicly traded SaaS company that specializes in fraud and chargeback prevention. Joe joins us to talk about the evolving landscape of fraud prevention for retail and eCommerce. As the holiday season approaches, with forecasts projecting $240 billion in U.S. online shopping, merchants face increasing challenges balancing customer-friendly policies with the risk of policy abuse and sophisticated fraud schemes. Joe explains how the pandemic reshaped consumer behavior, normalizing liberal return policies but also creating opportunities for fraud. He highlights how policy abuse—such as repeat returns or fake claims—differs from more organized fraud operations manipulating shipping systems or repackaging defective products. This episode is sponsored by Riskified. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Juan Ferres, Corporate Vice President and Chief Data Scientist at Microsoft. Juan returns to the program to explore how to win buy-in for sustainable AI projects. As a leader in the AI4G Lab and author of the new book AI for Good, Juan shares insights on navigating complex digital transformations, particularly when it comes to initiatives where the return on investment is philosophical rather than immediately measurable. Throughout the episode, Juan and Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello discuss the challenges of managing up and driving forward AI innovations that aim to benefit society as a whole. If you’re interested in unlocking our AI best practice guides, frameworks for AI ROI, and specific resources for AI leaders, visit emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Luke van der Waals, Demand-to-Deliver Value Stream Owner at SLB. SLB is a global technology company driving energy innovation for a balanced planet. They are the largest offshore drilling company by revenue as of 2022 and were ranked 349th largest company globally by the Forbes Global 2000 list that same year. Luke joins us on today’s show to explore the evolving complexities of global supply chains and procurement. He shares insights on the challenges of maintaining resilience amid geopolitical tensions, inflation, and post-pandemic disruptions—especially in the energy sector. Luke also offers a candid look at how global conflicts amplify supply chain risks and emphasizes the importance of balancing local sourcing with global constraints to control costs and ensure seamless operations. This episode is sponsored by Arkestro. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Chloe Rice, Director of Global Customer Experience at Shutterstock. Shutterstock is a New York-based provider of stock photography, stock footage, stock music, and editing tools with a library of nearly 200 million royalty-free stock photos. Chloe joins us to explore the rapidly changing landscape of media and the role AI plays in shaping customer interactions. Throughout the episode, Chloe shares her insights on the emerging trends in customer experience, from the ethical use of AI to building transparent policies that ensure authenticity across all content channels. To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI, and strategy, visit Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Ermir Qeli, Head of Data Science in AI at Swiss Re. Ermir returns to the program to discuss strategies for gaining executive buy-in and scaling AI within the insurance industry. Throughout the discussion, Ermir highlights the role of data infrastructure, particularly for legacy institutions, in ensuring that data is clean, structured, and distributed effectively across the enterprise. He also delves into how change management is crucial for driving AI adoption, emphasizing the need for collaboration from day one, upskilling teams, and building trust in the technology from the beginning. Download our PDF brief “AI in Insurance: Executive Cheat Sheet” at emerj.com/ins1.
Today’s guest is Paulo Ruy, Head of Terminal Procurement for Latin America at A.P. Moeller-Maersk. A.P. Møller–Maersk, a Danish shipping and logistics company with over 100 years of history, is a publicly traded family business. In 2023, the company generated $51.1 billion USD in revenue and was ranked by Forbes as the 174th largest public company globally. Paulo joins host Matthew DeMello to explore the complexities of global shipping and procurement. Their conversation provides critical insights into how geopolitical conflicts, such as the Ukraine war and Red Sea challenges, are impacting global supply chains and contributing to inflation. Throughout the episode, Paulo discusses the need for flexibility in contract negotiations and the ongoing shift in shipping routes. To discover more AI use cases, best practice guides, white papers, frameworks, and more, join Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Frédéric Rivain, CTO of Dashlane. Dashlane is a password manager and digital wallet app, available through subscription, designed for macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android platforms. Frédéric joins Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello on the program today to examine trends in how AI is reshaping the cybersecurity landscape, presenting both significant risks and opportunities for enterprises. As AI tools become more sophisticated, they are changing the dynamics of cybersecurity — from automating complex attacks to enhancing defense strategies. This episode is sponsored by Pieces. To learn more about Emerj Media and how to reach the Emerj audience, visit emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Matthias Steinberg, Chief Financial Officer of MindBridge Analytics. MindBridge is a software company that has developed an AI-powered risk and anomaly detection platform at the cutting edge of accounting and financial service workflows, driving deep business insights in the process. Matthias joins us in today’s program to talk about the trouble that financial professionals face across industries when adopting AI. Later, we touch on the difference between short- and long-term ROI as we see more support for automation across finance teams in every kind of enterprise. This episode is sponsored by MindBridge Analytics. Find out more about sponsored content and how to engage with the Emerj audience at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Ylan Kazi, Chief Data and AI Officer at Blue Cross Blue Shield North Dakota. Ylan returns to the program today to surmise the progress in new generative AI tools and LLMs over the past two years. We examine the new challenges they pose in the healthcare industry. With ChatGPT and similar tools gaining traction, what strategic shifts are needed for data management and utilization? We explore how healthcare leaders can navigate these emerging challenges, leverage data strategies, and adapt to the evolving landscape. Visit emerj.com/beg1 to learn more about the practical steps for AI deployment for non-technical professionals.
Today’s guest is Nate Bell, Corporate Functions Business Data Leader at Wells Fargo. Nate joins us on today’s show to discuss the growing role of AI in the financial services sector, focusing on reconciling infrastructure investment with innovative use cases. With a unique vantage point from the data side, Nathaniel explores three main challenges in data management: the cost of good data management, navigating new AI-related risks, and the complexities of anthropomorphizing AI. These issues, he explains, can lead to misconceptions both within management and in customer-facing environments, where AI’s “people-pleasing” capabilities are often misunderstood. To discover more AI use cases, best practice guides, white papers, frameworks, and more, join Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Stephanie McReynolds, Vice President of Product and Portfolio Marketing at OneTrust. OneTrust is a security and privacy platform provider with over 12,000 employees and a $5 billion valuation established to address the growing need for compliance with emerging internet privacy regulations and laws. Stephanie joins us on the program today to delve into the barriers businesses face in AI adoption and the critical data challenges that need to be addressed to successfully implement AI systems. She shares insights on the recent EU AI Act that came into effect on August 2, 2024, and what businesses must consider to comply with these new regulations. This episode is sponsored by OneTrust. To learn more about Emerj Media and how to reach the Emerj audience, visit emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Aman Thind, Chief Architect at State Street. He joins us in the program today to talk about practical applications of AI across asset management workflows and what advanced generative technologies will mean for the sector in the long term. Throughout the program, Aman makes a finer point about the possibilities for content generation, administration, and data governance as these technologies advance in the coming years. This episode is sponsored by Deloitte. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Urvashi Tyagi, Advisor and Former CTO at ResMed. Urvashi joins us on today’s podcast with Emerj Senior Matthew DeMello to discuss the unique challenges healthcare leaders face in driving software development efficiencies for medical devices and customer-facing mobile applications. As the med tech industry strives to balance innovation with regulatory compliance, many companies find themselves navigating complex approval processes that can delay product launches and stifle progress. This episode is sponsored by Pieces. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Ylan Kazi, Chief Data and AI Officer at Blue Cross Blue Shield North Dakota. Ylan joins us on today’s program to discuss the complexities faced by leaders in legacy industries, such as healthcare, as they navigate the balance between infrastructure investments in cloud technologies and end-point storage to meet business goals. Throughout the episode, Ylan shares insights on developing a robust business strategy for cloud migration, highlighting common pitfalls like cost overruns and outdated mindsets. This episode is sponsored by MinIO. Find out more about sponsored content and how to engage with the Emerj audience at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Steve Jones, Executive Vice President of Data Driven Business & GenAI at Capgemini. Together with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello, Steve joins us on today’s program to examine the evolving landscape of AI development and the critical need for trust and ethical guardrails in deploying AI systems across enterprises. Drawing on insights from a recent VentureBeat event focused on AI transformation, Steve shares his perspective on the state of AI and the challenges that lie ahead. This episode is sponsored by Capgemini. To learn more about Emerj Media and how to reach the Emerj audience, visit emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Brian Weiss, Chief Technology Officer at Hyperscience. Hyperscience is a software company that provides back-office services and helps automate document processes to turn unstructured content into structured, actionable data. Brian joins us on today’s program to dive into the pressing challenges facing business leaders across financial services and insurance sectors as they grapple with digital transformation. His conversation with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello centers around the persistent struggle to digitize and automate processes traditionally handled through paper-based workflows. Despite the long-standing goal of moving towards a more digital future, early technologies like intelligent document processing, optical character recognition, and robotic process automation have often failed to deliver due to their limitations, creating a trade-off between high automation and low accuracy. This episode is sponsored by Hyperscience. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Bill Armstrong, Chief Innovation Officer at Moss Adams. Moss Adams is one of the 15 largest public accounting firms in the US, providing accounting, tax, and consulting services to public and private middle-market enterprises across industries. Bill joins Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello on today’s show to dive into the rapid mainstream adoption of AI tools in the accounting industry, as highlighted by a recent Moss Adams survey from December 2023. The survey reveals an unexpected trend: 69% of accountants are bullish or optimistic about the role of AI in their profession. What’s fueling this optimism, and how will it shape the future of the industry? We break down these findings to explore the key drivers of AI growth in accounting and their broader implications.
Today’s guest is Raul Martynek, CEO of DataBank. DataBank is a technology company helping organizations drive AI edge capabilities through IT infrastructure and effective data storage solutions. Raul joins Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella on today’s show to explore the evolving landscape of data centers, compute, hardware, and storage. As data centers become increasingly integral to our digital experience, the conversation begins by examining the fundamental role these centers play in today’s internet-based world. Raul discusses how data centers are not just massive buildings but the foundational infrastructure enabling the rapid growth and consumption of digital technology. To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI, and strategy, visit Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Robert Wenier, Global Head of Cloud and Infrastructure at AstraZeneca. Robert joins us on the program to explore the complex decisions faced by leaders in legacy industries as they balance infrastructure investments between cloud technologies and end-point storage. How can they align these investments with their business goals while managing the competing forces of performance, risk, and cost? We break down the strategic considerations: ensuring technology delivers the required performance, carefully monitoring risks like security and capacity, and managing costs to create value and maintain margins. This episode is sponsored by MinIO. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Abhijeet Kumar, Lead Customer Acquisition and Engagement for Digital Business at Amazon. He joins Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello on today’s episode to offer advice to retail leaders striving to enhance the customer experience at their organizations. With AI driving significant changes in how customers interact with brands, what are the biggest challenges product managers face today? We discuss the importance of crafting a compelling value proposition using AI to connect more personally with customers right now and explore what products, communication strategies, and customer engagement methods are most effective. To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI, and strategy, visit Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Andrew Rabinovich, Vice President of Machine Learning and AI at Upwork. Andrew joins us on today’s podcast to discuss the evolving role of AI in transforming work marketplaces and expediting hiring workflows. With Upwork’s recent launch of a suite of AI products, including Uma, an AI-powered assistant, the conversation focuses on how these innovations aim to streamline the platform’s core functions and enhance collaboration between clients and freelancers. This episode is sponsored by Pieces. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guests are George Williams, Head of Small Business at Nationwide Insurance, and Heather Wilson, CEO at CLARA Analytics. Nationwide is an investor in CLARA Analytics, an AI-as-a-service (AIaaS) provider that improves casualty claims outcomes. The pair join Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello on today’s episode to explain the impact of generative AI workflows on Insurance spaces. Later in the episode, both George and Heather share a broader vision for what the insurance landscape will look like once “proactive” approaches are commonplace. This episode is sponsored by CLARA Analytics. To learn more about Emerj Media and how to reach the Emerj audience, visit emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Fabio Raffone, Vice President of Customer Service Operations for Americas at Tetra Pak. Tetra Pak is a Swedish multinational company specializing in food packaging and processing solutions. The company provides a range of offerings, including packaging materials, filling machines, and processing equipment for various products such as dairy, beverages, cheese, ice cream, and prepared foods. Fabio joins Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello on the program today to discuss the pressing challenges faced by field service leaders and the growing relevance of AI in overcoming these hurdles. With a team of 700 field service professionals across the Americas, Tetra Pak is navigating complex market-specific challenges, from attracting and retaining talent in a growing U.S. economy to advancing competence development in other regions.
Today’s guest is Supriya Gupta, General Manager and Vice President of Product at Credit Karma. Credit Karma is a multinational personal finance brand under Intuit that makes products free to consumers and helps them find lenders. Supriya returns to the platform today to dive deep into the evolving landscape of financial services, highlighting the challenges and opportunities facing the industry today. We explore Credit Karma’s journey from its inception as a “born digital” company to its innovative use of generative AI, such as the development of Intuit Assist - an AI-driven tool that acts as a financial co-pilot, offering real-time, personalized financial advice and insights. Supriya offers an insider’s look at how these systems go beyond traditional customer service roles to create proactive and context-specific interactions. To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI, and strategy, visit Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Shardul Vikram, CTO and Head of Data & AI for SAP Industries and Customer Experience. Shardul joins Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello on today’s program to explore the evolving landscape of cloud adoption and storage solutions within the life sciences and financial services industries. A decade has passed since cloud technology burst onto the scene with great promises, yet today, not everything resides “on the cloud.” As the hype around new technologies like AI starts to cool, Shardul offers legacy and regulated industry leaders actionable insights on driving a balanced approach—leveraging both cloud and endpoint storage to achieve their unique goals. Today’s episode is part of a special series sponsored by MinIO for a deep dive into the challenges and opportunities at the intersection of infrastructure investment, technology strategy, and competitive advantage in today’s evolving landscape. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Akash Gupta, CEO and Co-founder of GreyOrange. GreyOrange is a warehouse robotics and software company that works in apparel, retail, consumer electronics, and home improvement, among other industries. He joins Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello on today’s episode to explore the critical challenges currently facing manufacturing and logistics leaders and why AI is becoming an increasingly vital tool in addressing these obstacles. As global supply chains become more complex and demand greater efficiency, AI offers new ways to optimize operations, reduce costs, and enhance decision-making. To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI, and strategy, visit Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guests include two senior executives from Sanofi’s manufacturing division, Head of Data & AI for Manufacturing & Supply Chain Kartik Pant and Head of AI & Data Products, Manufacturing & Supply Shreyas Becker, respectively. The pair join us on today’s podcast to identify disconnects between marketing and supply chain workflows that commonly lead to issues such as stockouts and fulfillment delays. Later, they share insights on building what they describe as an ‘end-to-end control tower capability’ for data tools to solve these and similar logistics challenges in life sciences spaces. If you’re interested in unlocking our AI best practice guides, frameworks for AI ROI, and specific resources for AI consultants, visit emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Dr. Raghav Vadhera, Lead Technical Architect for AI/ML Platform & Services at Raytheon Technologies. Dr. Vadhera returns to the program today to talk about a new initiative from the Biden administration in partnership with Raytheon to improve flood prediction capabilities using AI and cutting-edge technologies. Throughout our conversation, Dr. Vadhera explores the capabilities of AI in weather prediction and emergency response systems, including analyzing long-term data, identifying trends, and predicting weather events associated with specific cloud formations. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today's guest is Andrei Tadique, Director and Head of Manufacturing Science at Takeda Pharmaceuticals. Andrei joins us on today's podcast to discuss the biggest challenges for Life Sciences leaders in driving logistics and supply chain workflows. In the course of his conversation with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello, Tadique identifies and explores three key challenges: data integration, process standardization, and talent acquisition and retention. Throughout, he offers leaders actionable advice for working around remaining paper-based workflows, creating a global digital ecosystem, and digitalizing chemistry and manufacturing controls to unlock AI's value. If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Akash Gupta, Co-founder and CEO of GreyOrange. GreyOrange is a warehouse robotics and software company that works in apparel, retail, consumer electronics, and home improvement, among other industries. In a special series focusing on software development challenges sponsored by Pieces, Akash joins us on today’s program to talk about the challenges faced by AI startups in balancing short-term priorities with their long-term vision. Later, he and Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello explore the importance of prioritization, understanding the value of features, and striking a balance between progressing towards long-term company goals and meeting immediate operational needs. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Brenda Kahl, Senior Director of Service and Support at Illumina. Illumina is a San Diego-based biotechnology company founded in 1998 that develops and markets systems for genetic analysis, serving sequencing, genotyping, gene expression, and proteomics markets in over 155 countries. Brenda joins us on today’s program to pull apart training challenges for field service operations in biotech spaces and the technology infrastructure necessary to build solutions. Throughout the episode, Brenda gives actionable insights for driving efficiency and cost savings with call center metrics and digital tools, such as tribal knowledge systems that can accommodate new working styles like remote work. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is David Thompson, Chief Technology Officer at American Express Global Business Travel. American Express Global Business Travel – better known as Amex GBT and officially known as Global Business Travel Group, Inc. – is a multinational travel management company based in New York City. Employing 18,000 people across over 140 countries, Amex GBT operates independently from American Express, which maintains a minority interest in the company. David joins us on the program today to quantify the challenges business leaders face in driving business travel workflows with AI. From predicting travel disruptions to personalizing customer experiences for enterprise clients, David explains the enormous efficiencies AI can create in business travel over the coming decade and what they mean for leaders across industries. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Jane Chen, Director of Commercial Analytics for Women’s Cancer at Novartis. Jane joins us on the program today to highlight challenges in identifying and segmenting specific patient groups, particularly those with rare or niched diseases. Throughout the episode, she sheds a spotlight on privacy concerns in healthcare data, including blind spots due to HIPAA regulations. Later, she explains the ways healthcare leaders are testing the waters for generative AI applications in healthcare. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Juan Lavista Ferres, Microsoft Chief Data Scientist and Corporate Vice President. Juan joins us on today’s program to talk about his new book AI for Good, which showcases his philosophy in driving AI capabilities toward altruistic and responsible outcomes and the work of his team at the AI for Good labs at Microsoft. Throughout the episode, Juan explains how his team works with multiple organizations to develop AI solutions that align with human values, emphasizing the need for AI interventions to address growing health issues across the globe that didn’t exist decades ago. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Poonam Goyal, Sector Head and Senior eCommerce and Athleisure Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. Given post-pandemic retail and logistics trends, athleisure is frequently a ‘canary in the coalmine’ for many cross-sector business challenges. Poonam returns to the program to talk about her reporting on the athleisure space and how her findings reflect more significant retail and eCommerce trends, from supply chains to Nike’s shrinking moat in critical markets. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Dr. Raghav Vadhera, Lead Technical Architect for AI/ML Platform & Services at Raytheon Technologies. Dr. Vadhera joins us on today’s episode to offer business leaders advice on the challenges private-public partnerships face in aligning objectives, regulatory compliance, financial constraints, and cultural differences. Throughout his appearance, Dr. Vadhera offers essential criteria for driving AI adoption in the public sector, such as following evidence-based approaches that enhance decision-making, improve transparency, and streamline operations. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Joe Meloche, Business Line Manager for Service in North America at Atlas Copco. Joe joins the program to talk about the various challenges facing field service leaders, especially around new equipment obstacles and the multi-decade “brain drain” much of the industry has faced in an ever-changing workforce. Later, he and Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello dive into how service organizations can deploy AI in the form of ‘tribal knowledge’ to best capture expertise and deep insights, especially for large enterprises, where problems are solved locally but not documented systematically. This episode is sponsored by Aquant. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Chris Helsel, Senior Vice President of Global Operations and Chief Technology Officer at The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company. Chris returns to the program to explore use cases in tire intelligence and what they can tell us about the future of driving transportation efficiencies with AI, from maintenance to autonomous vehicles. Later, Chris delves into the strategy behind Goodyear’s investments in seed-to-growth age startups like the rideshare platform Revel and the autonomous middle-mile delivery company Gatik. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Prashant Natarajan, Vice President of Strategy and Products at H2O.ai. H2O.ai is a tech company whose platform, the H2O AI Cloud, enables businesses, government entities, nonprofits, and academic institutions to make, operate, and innovate with different AI capabilities like machine learning and AI-enhanced middleware. Prashant joins Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella on today’s episode to discuss the impact generative AI is having on the healthcare industry and what leaders can do to drive adoption safely across the enterprise. To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI, and strategy, visit Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Nishtha Jain, Head of Innovation and Digital Technology at Takeda Pharmaceuticals. Her role expands across Global R&D Quality in driving digital and data initiatives from concept to execution, leveraging emerging technologies and design principles. She joins us on the podcast today to talk about the efficiencies that AI can drive in the drug development space and how that benefits the entire value chain in life sciences. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Prasanna Dhore, Chief Data Officer at Fiserv and President of Data Commerce Solutions. Prasanna joins us on the program today to discuss credit challenges for those in the “invisible” category, including lack of awareness and information asymmetry, and what AI can do to bring these folks in from the cold. Later in the episode, Prasanna touches on the essentials for predicting creditworthiness using new data sources like cell phone records and rental payments. To discover more AI use cases, best practice guides, white papers, frameworks, and more, join Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Barclay Blair, Senior Managing Director of AI Product Innovation at DLA Piper. DLA Piper. DLA Piper is among the world’s leading law firms, and as you’ll be able to tell from Bennet and Danny’s input today, they have some fascinating use cases at the cutting edge of AI applications in the legal realm. Barclay joins us on the program to help us imagine what the Gen-AI-driven law firm of the future will look like and what law firms and their leadership will need to know to navigate the challenges therein. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Matt Madrigal, Vice President and General Manager of Merchant Shopping at Google. Matt returns to the program today to talk about data-based solutions for SMB retail challenges surrounding product imagery and translating brick-and-mortar customer experiences to the digital world. Throughout the episode, Matt pulls apart what small businesses will need to take advantage of the growing microservices market as generative AI tools become more commodifiable. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Scot Burdette, Global Division CIO for Measurement and Analytics at ABB. ABB is an electrical equipment manufacturer based in Sweden that specializes in industrial automation, robotics, as well as power generation, transmission, and distribution. Scot joins us on the program to talk about the unique challenges to field service teams that are making AI increasingly relevant in B2B workflows, with many parallels to the developments we’ve seen in their B2C counterparts. Throughout the episode, Scot lays out a vision for the future of AI in field services, particularly for addressing workforce challenges and retaining subject matter expertise in the organization through retirement waves and talent shortages. This episode is sponsored by Aquant. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Sheri Crawford, Director of Data Governance at Scotiabank. Sheri joins us on the program today to discuss the biggest challenges for data management teams to drive the systems and the infrastructure necessary to capitalize on new data-heavy emerging use cases in generative AI. Throughout the episode, Sheri gives business leaders in financial services and beyond actionable insights into balancing consumer needs with infrastructure changes in the digital transformation process. Today’s episode is sponsored by MinIO. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Ermir Qeli, Head of Data Science in AI at Swiss Re. Ermir joins us on the program to talk about the array of challenges facing insurance leaders at this stage of AI adoption across the sector and how the pace for which is marked by the fundamentally unstructured data at the heart of insurance tech stacks. Throughout the episode, Ermir offers his perspective on scaling systems dealing with these and similar issues, offering numerous use cases in generative AI and beyond to assist in these processes along the way. To discover more AI use cases, best practice guides, white papers, frameworks, and more, join Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Carm Taglienti, Chief Data Officer at Insight. Insight is a leading IT solutions provider that specializes in streamlining enterprise data infrastructure. Carm returns to the program to advise business leaders on the importance of keeping humans in the loop for AI development and what human-centered company cultures look like when they’re effectively leveraging the latest data tools. Throughout the episode, Carm lays out specific criteria and projected outcomes for driving AI adoptions in the workplace that drive productivity gains by building trust across the enterprise. This episode is sponsored by Insight. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Tomas Ohlson, Founding Engineer at Einride. Einride is a Swedish-based logistics and technology company best known for pioneering automated transportation solutions and leveraging data to drive cost efficiencies across supply chains. Together with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello, Tomas explains how electric and autonomous vehicles are streamlining inefficiencies in logistics workflows and providing cost reductions in everything from energy use to inventory prediction. Later, they explore how an automation-first approach is giving us a new perspective on the best places for human judgment in supervising supply chains. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Rupam Baijal, Director of Procurement at Algoma Steel. Algoma is a fully integrated steel producer based in Ontario that sells hot and cold rolled steel products, including sheet and plate. Rupam joins us on the program to talk about legacy data challenges in extractive industries and the need for digital transformation across the sector. Throughout the episode, Rupam measures the expertise gap between data science vendors and heavy industry subject matter experts and explains why it hinders collaboration. This episode is sponsored by Arkestro. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Jeff Otto, CMO of Riskified. Riskified is a publicly traded SaaS company that specializes in fraud and chargeback prevention. In conversation with Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella, Jeff explains the ethical and business dilemmas surrounding chargebacks in online retail – particularly those for first-party fraud. Throughout their conversation, Jeff pulls from Riskified research and surveys with merchants across the globe to illustrate the enormity of the problem and why both chargebacks and first-party fraud are on the increase. This episode is sponsored by Riskified. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Dr. Milind Sawant, Founder and Lead of the AI/ML & DFSS Centre of Excellence at Siemens Healthineers. Dr. Sawant joins us in today’s program to talk about the top impediments to developing and deploying AI in any organization and avoiding the typical mistakes that life sciences and healthcare firms tend to make in the process. Later in the program, Dr. Sawant talks about the enormous changes that AI capabilities are bringing to diagnostics workflows and what the future of these industries will look like as these changes become more commonplace. This episode is sponsored by iMerit. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Ranjan Sinha, IBM Fellow, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of WatsonX and IBM Research AI. Ranjan joins us on today’s program to discuss driving responsible AI and data governance practices through corporate operations. Throughout the episode, Ranjan highlights challenges and novel approaches for operationalizing AI with confidence and trust, emphasizing the importance of end-to-end lifecycle tracking, automated processes, and scalability. This episode is sponsored by Pieces. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Edwin Pahk, Senior Vice President of Customer Success and Customer Pre-sales at Aquant. Aquant. Aquant is an AI-powered tech company that builds a co-pilot platform for service workflows. Edwin joins us on today’s show to talk about how AI can help service industries retain their organizational knowledge – or tribal knowledge, as it gets called – in the face of turnover and other expertise challenges. Throughout the episode, Edwin emphasizes the importance of personalization on both sides of B2B workflows and how these same tools can often enhance the work-life experiences of subject matter experts across workflows. This episode is sponsored by Aquant. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Hossein Zahed, Senior Director of Data Science and Machine Learning at Capital One. Hossein joins us on today’s program to talk about the value that financial leaders tend to misplace in emerging generative AI systems. Where many managers place too much stock in customer-facing applications, Hossein insists it’s ‘behind the curtain’ that the true ROI of generative AI can be found. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guests are Tom Hayes and Gareth Dabbs, Senior Director of Product Strategy & Commercialization and Global Technology Product Strategy Lead at IQVIA, respectively. In today’s episode, they come to share two use cases helping to drive quality patient experiences between healthcare and insurance workflows. The first focuses on optimizing omnichannel marketing for compliance. The second use case centers on building trust and value in caretaker support systems through personalized insights. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights in this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Carm Taglienti, Chief Data Officer at Insight, a leading IT solutions provider that specializes in streamlining enterprise data infrastructure. Carm joins us on today’s program to advise business leaders across industries on best strategies for AI adoption teams in picking the right tools and technological approaches for driving digital transformation across the enterprise. Throughout the episode, Carm details at length the features and ingredients of robust systems focused on serving organizational goals efficiently. This episode is sponsored by Insight. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Tsavo Knott, Co-founder and CEO of Pieces. Pieces is an AI-driven software company that builds a platform to enable software developers to work more efficiently. Tsavo returns to the program with Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella for the second in a special two-part conversation on the challenge for software developers as generative AI drives greater heights in computing power and enterprise infrastructure. This episode is sponsored by Pieces. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Jason Aubee, Senior Vice President of Sales at TechSee. TechSee is a software company that develops visually-driven solutions for customer experience workflows. Jason joins us on the program to talk about the value that can be unlocked in call centers and other service environments when we move away from audio-exclusive communication channels. Later in the program, he explains at length the wealth of data and customer insights that these approaches can unlock. This episode is sponsored by TechSee. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Ryann Foelker, Strategy Director at American Family Insurance Group. American Family Insurance Group is a private mutual company that provides property, casualty, auto, commercial, life, and health insurance. They also offer homeowners coverage and retirement planning products. Ryann joins Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella for a wide-ranging conversation covering AI adoption throughout the insurance industry. Together, the pair peruse potential use cases and the importance of a cross-functional team with deep industry expertise to drive successful AI solutions. This episode is sponsored by Deloitte. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Anand Babu Periasamy, Co-founder & Co-CEO of MinIO, Inc. MinIO is a software company that develops High-Performance Object Storage systems that are API compatible with the Amazon S3 cloud storage service. Anand joins us on today’s podcast to discuss opportunities for IT and infrastructure leaders to scale AI across the enterprise. Throughout the episode, Anand explains at length what he sees as the critical ingredients for ensuring sustainable growth in infrastructure systems and the advantages of object storage regardless of industrial sector. This episode is sponsored by MinIO. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Steve Astorino, General Manager of Product Development, Data, AI & Sustainability and Canada Lab Director at IBM. Steve returns to the program to discuss the biggest challenges in establishing ethical AI practices from an infrastructure standpoint. Throughout the episode, He offers advice to leaders across industries for winning executive buy-in for responsible AI practices. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Alan Boehme, Former Chief Technology Officer at H&M. Alan has also served at a number of Fortune 500 companies, assisting them through their digital transformations, including Coca-Cola and Procter & Gamble. Alan returns to the program today to discuss his pet peeves regarding the ‘Enterprise Deep State’ – or what he sees as those forces inside the modern-day American corporation that enforces a status quo that will always keep an organization from its true innovative potential. Later, he explains why AI capabilities will help reveal the ‘deep state’ inside every organization, hopefully rendering them a permanent place in the history books. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Tsavo Knott, Co-founder and CEO of Pieces. Pieces is an AI-driven software company that builds a platform to enable software developers to work more efficiently. Tsavo joins Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella for the first in a special two-part conversation on the challenge for software developers as GenAI drives greater heights in computing power and enterprise infrastructure. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Julie Winkler, Chief Commercial Officer of the CME Group. CME Group is a Chicago-based financial services firm that operates derivative exchanges including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Chicago Board of Trade. Julie joins Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella on today’s program to pull apart new trends in AI adoption for financial services with a focus on data and security challenges. Later in the program, she offers strategic advice on prioritizing different AI initiatives in the enterprise and subsequent lessons for leadership. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Matt Berseth, Co-founder and Chief Information Officer of NLP Logix. NLP Logix is a fast-growing AI services firm based in Florida that serves both the public and private sectors. Matt joins us on today’s program to talk about the last decade in AI development and how natural language processing became such a central driver of adoption for so many industries over that period. This episode is sponsored by NLP Logix. Find out more about sponsored content and how to engage with the Emerj audience at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Bill Armstrong, Chief Innovation Officer at Moss Adams. Moss Adams is one of the 15 largest public accounting firms in the US, providing accounting, tax, and consulting services to public and private middle-market enterprises across industries. Bill joins Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello on today’s program to discuss the impact of AI on hiring practices and what the future of human resources departments will look like as these technologies become more commonplace in every kind of enterprise. To discover more AI use cases, best practice guides, white papers, frameworks, and more, join Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guests are Arkestro Founder & Chief Strategy Officer Edmund Zagorin and Johnson & Johnson Chief Procurement Officer Len DeCandia. Arkestro is an AI-driven startup in the procurement space with broad partnerships across the automotive, construction, and manufacturing sectors. Together, the two discuss procurement from a distinct leadership perspective and the broad range of challenges, from keeping talent ahead of scaling to the post-pandemic realities of recovering supply chains. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Chris Helsel, Senior Vice President of Global Operations and Chief Technology Officer at The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company. Despite the disparity in the predictions about self-driving cars that were made a decade ago, the era of automated transportation is close at hand. Chris joins the podcast today to discuss the enormous implications of the transition for numerous industries, from consumer goods to manufacturing and retail, and every industry that touches on transportation. To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI, and strategy, visit Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Dr. John Almasan, Head of AI & Emerging Technologies at TIAA. TIAA, or the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America-College Retirement Equities Fund, is a US-based insurance provider specializing in retirement services in areas like academia, research, healthcare, and government. Dr. Almasan joins Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella on today’s podcast to discuss AI in insurance with a focus on governance, talent, and innovation. Together, they cover practical use cases in customer experience, fraud detection, and marketing throughout the episode. If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Shreyas Becker, Head of AI & Data Products, Manufacturing & Supply at Sanofi. Shreyas joins Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello on today’s podcast to talk about alleviating pain points for supply chain leaders in life sciences spaces. From building systems that deliver “real world evidence” to the subject matter experts and managers who need it to the pros and cons of sharing sensorial data with big tech data storage platforms like Amazon Web Services – Shreyas helps the executive podcast audience understand how problems are both viewed and solved through the lens of data, from no matter where they arise. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Daniel Ferrante, AI Leader in R&D and Data Strategy at Deloitte. Together with Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella, they delve into the complex challenges in AI adoption that major pharmaceutical firms encounter with cultural shifts, technological complexities, and the difficulties in monetizing data and aligning teams efficiently. Additionally, the pair explores the future landscape of phenotypical drug discovery, drawing insights from the context of COVID-19. Their focus underscores the critical importance of collecting and analyzing data to yield actionable insights, especially in the healthcare sector and amidst global health crises. If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Bikalpa Neupane, Head of AI/GenAI and Natural Language Processing at Takeda. Bikalpa returns to the program to talk about the difference between a legacy enterprise culture and a data-based enterprise culture, showing how legacy leaders in sectors as diverse as healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, and beyond can make the transition in today’s AI-driven global economy along the way. Later, he and Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello pull apart challenges for large enterprises as more open-source AI tools become available to individuals, eroding the traditional and structural advantages legacy firms have long held in the marketplace. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Craig Mackereth, Executive Vice President of Global Service Delivery at Rimini Street. Rimini Street is a publicly traded company specializing in third-party support for mission-critical systems for financial services organizations and beyond. Craig joins Emerj Senior Matthew DeMello on today’s program to discuss the most significant challenges currently facing financial services leaders when it comes to driving the IT systems and infrastructure necessary to take advantage of data-heavy generative AI use cases. To discover more AI use cases, best practice guides, white papers, frameworks, and more, join Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guests are Anton Kornienko and Ben Webster of NLP Logix, where Anton serves as Data Science Platform Architect and Ben serves as Modeling and Analytics Team Lead. NLP Logix is a fast-growing AI services firm based in Florida that serves both the public and private sectors. Ben and Anton join us on today’s program to offer Emerj’s executive podcast audience advice on the essentials of turning large language models into business value. Throughout the episode, the pair underscore what they see as the biggest misconceptions about LLMs in the media hype cycle and how leaders can find a balance between foundational and bespoke models for different workflows. This episode is sponsored by NLP Logix. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Nadeem Saeed, Corporate Vice President of Digital Transformation and Operational Excellence at Verizon. He joins Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello on this week’s podcast to discuss the biggest challenges that telecom leaders face when it comes to driving infrastructure advances from a consumer and carbon standpoint. Later, they take a closer look at the lessons that startups can learn from more prominent telecom players and vice versa when it comes to strategizing AI deployments in the enterprise. A quick note that the views Nadeem expresses on today’s show are entirely his own and not a reflection of the opinions or views of Verizon as an organization. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today's guest is Steven Zhang, Managing Director at Deloitte Consulting. Steven joins Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello on today's podcast to discuss AI's impact on life sciences IT workflows. Steven introduces this episode by offering a four-pillar framework for rapidly adopting generative AI for life sciences enterprises. He then explains the sector-specific talent needs of adoption teams, underscoring the responsible AI practices and executive buy-in tactics that lead effective digital transformations in almost any industry. This episode is sponsored by Deloitte. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Anuj Maniar, a principal at Deloitte specializing in financial services. He joins Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella on today’s podcast to discuss the dynamics of balancing customer expectations in channel strategy for financial institutions. Later, they discuss emerging AI use cases throughout the multichannel space, including after-call work in customer service. This episode is sponsored by Deloitte. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Poonam Goyal, Sector Head and Senior eCommerce and Athleisure Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. Given post-pandemic retail and logistics trends, athleisure is frequently a ‘canary in the coal mine’ for many business challenges across supply chains and online marketing. She joins Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello to talk about the eCommerce space more broadly through the lens of athleisure and how AI capabilities are helping to solve many of these challenges. To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI, and strategy, visit Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s is an exceptional episode of the AI in Business podcast. This week, we are delighted to announce the launch of ‘The Trajectory,’ a new video channel, podcast, and newsletter from Emerj Technology Research. As a special sneak preview of the first episode of the podcast, we’re featuring a portion of our conversation with revered computer scientist and University of Montreal professor Yoshua Bengio on today’s episode of the ‘AI in Business’ podcast. In conversation with Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella, the ‘Trajectory’ sneak preview marks Yoshua’s return to the ‘AI in Business’ podcast for the first time in nearly a decade to explain his recent and very openly declared change of heart on the implications of artificial general intelligence (AGI) on the global realpolitik, and how large language models like ChatGPT became the catalyst for that change.
Today’s guest is Laks Pernenkil, a principal in life sciences consulting at Deloitte. Laks joins Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella on today’s show to discuss AI in pharmaceutical supply chain manufacturing, showcasing a host of AI use cases and applications across manufacturing and operational lines of business. Later, the two surmise the near future of AI adoption in pharmaceutical supply chain management and where business leaders should focus their investments and attention. This episode is sponsored by Deloitte. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guests are Karl Hersch, Vice Chairman and leader of Deloitte’s US Insurance practice, and Sandee Suhrada, Partner at Monitor Deloitte leading AI for Insurance. They join Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella on today’s podcast to discuss the opportunity space in insurance, highlighting the integration of automation and potential value for business creation. Throughout the episode, the pair underscore incoming changes to underwriting and customer engagement workflows, focusing on performance, productivity, and efficiency plays over the next three years. This episode is sponsored by Deloitte. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Shane Bray, Chief Customer Experience Officer (CXO) at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana. He joins Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello on today’s program to examine how the convergence of healthcare and financial services presents a compelling opportunity for the integration of AI to elevate patient experiences and customer interactions in insurance workflows. Later, they take a closer look at the advantages of generative AI in addressing problems like the interoperability of different healthcare IT systems and giving caretakers a deeper understanding of patient behaviors and sentiment analysis. This episode is sponsored by Uniphore. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Adam Burns, Vice President of Network and Edge and director of EdgeAI Development Tools at Intel. Adam returns to the podcast this week to talk about out-of-the-box solutions for computer vision in manufacturing, retail, healthcare, and beyond. Throughout the episode, Adam discusses relevant use cases related to Intel’s Geti Platform, what industry leaders should know before deploying out-of-the-box AI products, and the essential lessons in model development he’s gained from developing these tools. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Gianni Giacomelli, Former Senior Advisor for Innovation at Genpact. Gianni currently serves as Head of Design Innovation at the Collective Intelligence Design Lab at MIT. He served as Chief Innovation Officer at Genpact from 2016 to 2022, when he stepped down to found Supermind. Design, an innovation advisory firm that helps organizations engaged in environmental and social transformation harness the power of AI tools. Gianni joins us on today’s program for a sober yet optimistic conversation with Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella on the real-world implications for generative AI, the massive changes it will bring about for multiple industries in the near future, and what business leaders need to know to thrive in the new landscape. For more relevant insights on these topics, business leaders should also explore Genpact’s recent white paper titled ‘Break Boundaries with Generative AI.’ This episode is sponsored by Genpact. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guests include Kelly Cusick, Managing Director in Deloitte Consulting’s Actuarial & Insurance Solutions practice, and Michael Cline, Managing Director and Insurance Sector Claims Leader for Deloitte Consulting. Joining Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello, they explain key trends in underwriting for our executive audience, emphasizing the evolution of personalization and the expanding reach of personal connections within the industry. Later in the discussion, the trio explores the transformative impact of new AI capabilities, shedding light on how these technologies enable insurance companies to streamline workflows and provide invaluable prescriptive insights for both underwriters and customers alike. This episode is sponsored by Deloitte. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Andrew Bolt, Partner at Deloitte. He joins Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella on today’s podcast to talk about challenges in R&D for life sciences. While productivity has remained stagnant for the last 10-15 years, advances in AI-enhanced protein structure prediction are revolutionizing drug targeting and the very infrastructure of recruiting patients for clinical trials. Later, the two postulate on the ways AI can expedite regulatory compliance in pharmaceutical R&D in similar ways. Find out more about sponsored content and how to engage with the Emerj audience at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guests on the ‘AI in Business’ podcast are Jennifer Bradshaw and Arash Kamiar, Director of Product and Senior Product Owner at NLP Logix, respectively. NLP Logix is a fast-growing AI services firm based in Florida that serves both the public and private sectors. They join Emerj Senior Matthew DeMello on today’s podcast to talk about developing AI solutions with what they call a ‘product mindset.’ Throughout the program, the pair emphasize shifting focus away from the unique technological capabilities of AI tools to the problems that customers suffer through every day and how those tools can be applied to solve them. This episode is sponsored by NLP Logix. Find out more about sponsored content and how to engage with the Emerj audience at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Dr. Dan Elton, a Data Scientist at the Mass General Brigham Data Science Office. He’s also a fellow at the Foresight Institute and previously served as a staff scientist at the National Institutes of Health. He joins Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello on today’s show to talk about promising AI use cases in healthcare, including use cases in radiology, compliance, and medical record generation, search, and summarization. Later, the two discuss how foundational models will transform how AI is used in radiology. To discover more AI use cases, best practice guides, white papers, frameworks, and more, join Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today's guest is Bhuvanesh Abrol, US Private Equity Consulting Leader and US M&A Services Private Equity Consulting Leader at Deloitte. He joins Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella on today's program to talk about the AI opportunities in private equity investment decisions and deal-making. Later, the pair pull apart the fundamentals of using AI to inform opaque pricing in procurement and to drive increased collection rates. This episode is sponsored by Deloitte. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guests are Melissa Easy, Vice President and General Manager of Clinical Technologies and Vinita Navadgi, Sr. Director, Digital Patient Suite at IQVIA. They join us on today’s show to discuss the advantages of optimizing consent workflows through automation, or ‘eConsent’ processes. The conversation delves into the metrics defining the effectiveness of ‘eConsent’ for both patients and healthcare providers, elucidating the role of AI in shaping the broader landscape of clinical trials. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Mark Miller, Managing Director of Life Science Advertising, Marketing & Commerce at Deloitte. He joins Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella on today’s podcast to discuss leveraging data in proven AI use cases in pharmaceutical sales and marketing, particularly when it comes to the ‘next best’ engagement. Throughout the episode, Mark emphasizes the importance of connected data and decision algorithms to engage with healthcare professionals more effectively. This episode is sponsored by Deloitte. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is John D’Angelo, Real Estate Solutions Leader at Deloitte. John joins Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella on today’s program to discuss the challenges and trends in the real estate industry, highlighting the local knowledge-heavy nature of the business. Throughout the episode, John emphasizes the true sources of friction to new technology adoption and the importance of storytelling in the sector. Later, the discussion delves into the leasing process, where AI can streamline the creation and understanding of complex leases, reducing labor and mitigating risks. This episode is sponsored by Deloitte. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Ciprian Porutiu, Vice President of Operations and Strategy at Marsh McLennan. Prior to Marsh McLennan, Ciprian spent much of his career in IT leadership for various fintech firms. In conversation with Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella, Ciprian explains the fundamentals of a VUCA – short for volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous – business landscape to a financial services executive audience. Throughout the episode, Ciprian offers insights into delivering the necessary business agility and addressing the acute challenges of scaling systems based on advanced technologies. Today’s episode is sponsored by Uniphore. Find out more about sponsored content and how to engage with the Emerj audience at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Sreekanth Menon, Vice President and Global Leader of AI/ML Services at Genpact. Sreekanth joins Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella on today’s show for a candid and productive conversation on what responsible AI practices in transparency and accountability truly mean in terms of practical data governance policies. With new generative AI applications and challenges surrounding hallucinations and misinformation, responsible AI disciplines and workflows are no longer the terrain of PR buzzwords. Sreekanth’s appearance on today’s show builds off of Genpact’s existing thought leadership in these areas, offering business leaders actionable insights in leveraging these new capabilities for procurement process improvement. Along the way, he explains in-depth what these changes will mean for banking and other industries as they become more widespread between enterprises. For more relevant insights on these topics and more, business leaders should also explore Genpact’s recent white paper titled ‘Creativity and Constraints: A Framework for Responsible Generative AI.’ This episode is sponsored by Genpact. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Steve Astorino, General Manager, Product Development, Data, AI & Sustainability and Canada Lab Director at IBM. Steve joins us on today’s program to talk about the biggest challenges for enterprise leaders when it comes to driving the infrastructure innovations necessary to leverage new emerging AI use cases — especially in new, data-hungry generative AI tools. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Michael Tambe, Head of Data Science for Amazon Advertising Field Sales. Mike has led data science efforts in sales and marketing and leading edge companies like Amazon Ads and LinkedIn. Through these experiences he’s become an advocate of enterprises building a “data driven go to market engine.” He joins Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello on today’s podcast to talk about what that means, along with the challenges and possibilities of new emerging AI capabilities. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest on the ‘AI in Business’ podcast is Haden Kirkpatrick, Vice President of Innovation and Venture Capital at State Farm. Haden began his position at State Farm in February 2021 and has spent much of the last decade in the insurance industry after starting his career at T-Mobile. Haden returns to the podcast to talk about ‘know your asset’ workflows and what they’re coming to mean for an AI-enhanced insurance space. Throughout the episode, he clarifies what these changes mean for the three-to-five-year short term of the industry and offers thoughts on what things may look like after. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Harsh Kar, an enterprise leader in data and AI at Genpact. Harsh joins Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella on today’s show to deliver a sober yet very optimistic assessment of the challenges and opportunities surrounding new generative AI capabilities for organizations across industries. Throughout the episode, Harsh pulls apart how previously siloed enterprise functions – from data management, to hiring and marketing strategy – will soon work in concert, and with greater facility than ever before. Later, Harsh offers executives specific and actionable criteria for developing the data governance practices necessary for any enterprise to leverage generative AI use cases that will soon transform entire industrial sectors. For more relevant insights, business leaders should also explore Genpact’s recent white paper titled ‘Scaling Generative AI in the Enterprise. This episode is sponsored by Genpact. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Caitlin Hodges, Risk Manager at Amazon. Caitlin joins us on today’s program to talk about the biggest challenges for eCommerce leaders when it comes to reducing policy fraud, and the unique forms their solutions can take from a data perspective. Throughout the episode, Caitlin pulls from her experience from the frontlines of developing new tools to fight competitor fraud, such as detecting AI-manufactured negative reviews for competing products. This episode is sponsored by Riskified. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Tomas Ohlson, Founding Engineer at Einride. Einride is a Swedish-based logistics and technology company best known for pioneering automated transportation solutions and leveraging data to drive cost efficiencies across supply chains. Together with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello, Tomas explains how electric and autonomous vehicles are streamlining inefficiencies in logistics workflows, and providing cost reductions in everything from energy use to inventory prediction. Later, they explore how an automation-first approach is giving us a new perspective on the best places for human judgment in supervising supply chains. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Easwaran Krishnamurthy, VP & CIO of Building Solutions for North American and Global Field Operations at Johnson Controls. Johnson Controls is a major producer of fire, HVAC and security infrastructure for buildings. Easwaran, or “EK” for short, joins us on today’s podcast to discuss the practicality of putting AI in the hands of field technicians across heavy industry and B2B customer-facing workflows. Together with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello, EK brings a practical perspective to these challenges - outlining precisely where leaders will need to level up their data infrastructure at their organizations to leverage a future of copilot-empowered technicians helping customers and machines in the field. Today’s episode is sponsored by Aquant. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Aaron Chamberlain, Senior Medical Director of the Musculoskeletal Clinical Program at Intermountain Health. Intermountain is a US-based not-for-profit healthcare system with over 350 clinics and 30 hospitals in the Intermountain West, located in Salt Lake City, Utah. Aaron joins us on the program today to talk about the biggest challenges facing healthcare leaders when it comes to driving patient access and improved outcomes. In conversation with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello, Aaron addresses the problem of tech debt and the role that emerging generative AI capabilities can play in ensuring that doctors are spending more time interfacing with patients than in tedious administrative tasks. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Bikalpa Neupane, Head of Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing at Takeda. He joins us on today’s program to discuss how siloed data and trust in data science processes are among the biggest challenges facing life sciences leaders and the promise of new use cases and generative AI tools in confronting those challenges. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Pablo Vargas, Risk and Compliance Manager at FanDuel. FanDuel is a fast-growing company in the gaming industry, with over 1,500 employees working with state regulators and other industry partners to bring high-quality entertainment, gambling and sports news experiences to their users. Pablo joins us on today’s podcast to talk about managing fraud risk in the gaming space and the unique challenges gaming leaders face for both online and in-person sales domains. Throughout the episode, Pablo pulls from his larger experiences in financial services to frame how to think of customer journeys in the gaming industry as the sector begins to sense its longevity. This episode is sponsored by Riskified. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Fabrizio Burlando, Global Head of Advisors Consulting and Digital Labs at Mastercard. Previous to Mastercard, Fabrizio also served as a project leader at Boston Consulting Group and as a Senior Consultant for the United Nations. He joins us on today’s program to talk about the current new wave of generative AI tools, their impact on the financial services sector and how SMBs stand to benefit from a blossoming market for microservices emerging in their wake. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is John LeBaron, Chief Revenue Officer at Pattern. Pattern is a tech company that builds an AI-driven platform for helping businesses grow faster and sell more on eCommerce marketplaces. John joins us on today’s program to discuss the biggest challenges for brand and consumer product executives, given the current state of AI adoption in the eCommerce sector. Later, he and Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello dissect how new generative AI tools will impact advertising and content optimization. This episode is sponsored by Pattern. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Sean Moriarty, the new CEO of Primer. He joins Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella to discuss how to build trust in the true capabilities of AI-enhanced systems that will be making all the difference in life and death situations going forward for the defense sector and beyond. Throughout his appearance, Sean emphasizes the primacy of getting end users to properly execute procedures by understanding problems in human terms, not the esoteric language of subject matter experts. This episode is sponsored by Primer. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Tom Pettit, Chief Operations and Supply Chain Officer at Xylem. Xylem is a leading global water technology company committed to solving the world’s critical water, wastewater and water-related challenges through technology, innovation and expertise. Tom joins us on today’s program to talk about challenges for B2B leaders when it comes to providing their customers with high-quality experiences and what specific metrics can help industry leaders prepare their organizations for use cases in VR training and other generative AI tools. Today’s episode is sponsored by Aquant. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is legal expert Anna Gressel. She returns to the program today to discuss the impact that AI will have on legal workflows, from document processing to the skills law professionals should focus on as they conduct their work in tandem with emerging technologies. If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Ted Kwartler, Field CTO of Generative AI at DataRobot. DataRobot is an AI-powered software company that helps enterprises automate processes from end-to-end. Ted returns to the platform in conversation with Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella to examine what challenges for software development teams look like from the perspective of leadership. Later, Ted offers actionable insight on handling pushback on goals, assigning team members based on data-verified skills rather than work politics and planning future initiatives. This episode is sponsored by Pieces. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Matt Madrigal, Vice President and General Manager of Merchant Shopping at Google. Matt joins us on today’s program to talk about some general challenges retail SMBs face and how generative AI tools can help them tackle them. From virtual experiences to content creation, Matt explains how we’ll see many of the use cases previously only accessible to large companies impact all areas of retail and eCommerce. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Edosa Odaro, Chief of Data Analytics and Privacy Officer at Tawuniya and former Chief Data Officer at AIG. He is also the author of two books on overcoming data challenges, ‘Making Data Work’ and his latest, ‘Value Driven Data’ from the Taylor & Francis Group. Edosa returns to the podcast to talk about his written work and how organizations can overcome the inevitable growing pains of digital transformations. To discover more AI use cases, best practice guides, white papers, frameworks, and more, join Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Shahar Chen, CEO and Co-founder of Aquant. Aquant is an AI-powered tech company that builds a co-pilot platform for service workflows. Shahar joins us on today’s show to talk about the role generative AI-enhanced co-pilot platforms can play, particularly in improving B2B customer experiences in field service across multiple industrial sectors from heavy industry to healthcare. This episode is sponsored by Aquant. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Dr. Yossi Sheffi, Professor of Engineering Systems and Director of the Center for Transportation and Logistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is also the author of ‘The Magic Conveyor Belt: Supply Chains, AI and the Future of Work’. Dr. Sheffi returns to the show to expand on his thoughts about where human skills and labor markets are headed in the immediate impact of automated and autonomized workflows thanks to AI capabilities in logistics and manufacturing. To discover more AI use cases, best practice guides, white papers, frameworks, and more, join Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guests are Andrea Haskell, Principal of Strategy and Analytics at Deloitte Consulting, and Val Srinivas, Research Leader in Banking and Capital Markets for Deloitte. They join Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella to discuss the trends and challenges detailed in a new report from Deloitte on generative AI’s impact on investment banking. From using new #genAI tools for news analysis and summarization in financial workflows to looking beyond trading, such as M&A, advisory, and debt issuance – the trio explores AI adoption and its impact on workflows, talent, and risk management. This episode is sponsored by Deloitte. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Jason Wells, Chief Technology Officer at Pattern. Pattern is a tech company that builds an AI-driven platform to help businesses grow faster and sell more on eCommerce marketplaces. Jason joins Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella on today’s program to talk about the challenges developer teams and their managers face in integrating workflows, assessing engagement, hiring the right people and beyond. Throughout his appearance, he emphasizes the importance of individualizing over-generalizing systems for teams and elevating team members who are most passionate about solving problems. This episode is sponsored by Pieces (https://pieces.app/). Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Srihari Govindarajan, Senior Director of Finance Transformation at PayPal. Srihari joins Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella on today’s show to talk about how PayPal approaches fraud and policy abuse – including how they leverage a bespoke version of ChatGPT they refer to as “fraudGTP.” Throughout the episode, the pair scrutinize the concrete value of LLMs and other forms of generative AI in finserv workflows, specifically in mitigating fraud. This episode is sponsored by Riskified. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Dan Buckland, Medical Director of Duke University Health System. Dan is also an assistant professor at Duke University as well as a deputy human system risk manager at NASA. Obviously, he’s no stranger to the latest and greatest technology. However, Dan joins us on the program today to talk about Duke University’s unique approach to AI technologies - often using models that are at least two years old and have requisite training - and using virtual care as a last resort whenever data is showing in-person experiences are holding back patients and caregivers. To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI, and strategy, visit Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Ramesh Durvasula, Senior Vice President of R&D IT at Lilly. Ramesh joins us on the program today to discuss AI’s impact on the drug targeting process, particularly in helping pharmaceutical leaders like Lilly better predict what potential drugs to invest in for bringing to market and when. With increased certainty in drug targeting, Ramesh explains how AI capabilities are driving clinical trials to be used as an alternative form of healthcare. Visit emerj.com/beg1 to learn more about the practical steps for AI deployment for non-technical professionals.
Today’s guest is Marco Argenti, Chief Information Officer at Goldman Sachs. Before working with Goldman Sachs, Marco served as SVP of Developer Services at Nokia, then Vice President of Technology of Amazon Web Services (AWS) in 2013, where he started and ran several AWS businesses, including mobile, serverless computing, Internet of Things, and augmented and virtual reality. He joins us on today’s program to talk about where banking leaders should be showing the most caution when it comes to emerging AI capabilities and how financial services professionals should think of cultivating their skills for the future. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Tsavo Knott, Co-founder and CEO of Pieces. Pieces is an AI-driven software company that builds a platform to enable software developers to work more efficiently. Tsavo joins us on today’s program to talk about the ways that new and emerging AI tools can help streamline workflows for developers, from making their work histories more accessible to bridging gaps between their work and their fellow stakeholders in design workflows. This episode is sponsored by Pieces. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Leonardo Lambert, Director of Commercial at Corti. Corti is an AI-driven software company that develops a digital assistant for augmenting caretakers in improving patient outcomes and internal performance. Leonardo joins us on today’s program to talk about the challenges facing caretakers in decreasing friction in the patient experience — from administrative costs to ensuring best practices. Throughout the episode, he emphasizes the importance of the patient’s first contact with a healthcare service funnel in delivering the highest quality care. This episode is sponsored by Corti. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guests are DLA Piper's Partner, Chief Data Scientist, Bennett Borden, and Partner, Chair AI and Data Analytics Practice, Danny Tobey. DLA Piper is among the world’s leading law firms and as Bennett and Danny explore with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello on today’s podcast, they have some compelling use cases at the cutting edge of AI applications in the legal realm. In a follow-up to their first episode on document management use cases, Bennett and Danny closely examine how large language models are changing workflows throughout the legal sector. Later, they look back at their conversation across both episodes to offer hypotheses on what future legal work will look like in an augmented AI future. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Michael Tambe, Head of Scaled Insight Science, Amazon Ads. Mike has led data science efforts in sales and marketing and leading edge companies like Amazon Ads and LinkedIn. Through these experiences he’s become an advocate of enterprises building a “data-driven go-to-market engine.” He joins Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello on today’s podcast to talk about what that means, along with the challenges and possibilities of new emerging AI capabilities. To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI, and strategy, visit Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today's episode marks the return of our 'AI Futures' series, where we explore what AI means for the future of our society and species with a more academic caliber of guests. Today's guest is Florian Douetteau, Co-founder and CEO of Dataiku, a Europe-based artificial intelligence and machine learning unicorn that builds custom business solutions for what they call "Everyday AI" in industrial sectors like retail, healthcare, banking and beyond. Florian joins Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella on today's show to imagine what life will look like where experiences – from work to play and everything in between – will take place entirely in AI-generated virtual reality and what this will mean for societies and economies around the world. If you've enjoyed or benefited from the insights in this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Jeff Otto, Chief Marketing Officer at Riskified, a publicly traded SaaS company that specializes in fraud and chargeback prevention. In conversation with Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella, Jeff shares findings from Riskified’s new survey of 300 merchants from around the world on their customer policies, including refunds and loyalty programs. The survey sheds light on what refund policies and CX strategies mean for bottom lines across the retail and eCommerce sectors. Later, the pair discusses these problems from a data perspective and the growing importance of retail leaders being able to verify as much customer information as they can. This episode is sponsored by Riskified. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Carm Taglienti, Chief Data Officer and Data/AI Portfolio Director for Insight. Insight is a leading IT solutions provider specializing in streamlining enterprise data infrastructure. Carm returns to the program to talk about the future of generative AI capabilities, offering predictions that the technology will be characterized by more complex and efficient models, faster training and inference. Later, he and Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello pull apart what these improvements mean both in their range of capabilities and applicability in various industries. This episode is sponsored by Insight. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest on the ‘AI in Business’ podcast is Haden Kirkpatrick, Vice President of Innovation and Venture Capital at State Farm. Haden began his position at State Farm in February 2021 and has spent much of the last decade in the insurance industry after starting his career at T-Mobile. He joins us on today’s show to talk about challenges facing the insurance industry – from the deluge of data coming from the Internet of Things and emerging generative AI tools. Throughout the episode, Haden pulls apart how these challenges look to an executive coming from a telecom background and how insurance leaders can leverage data tools to help solve them. For access to Emerj’s Executive Cheat Sheet on AI in insurance, check out emerj.com/ins1.
Today’s guest is Don McGuire, Chief Marketing Officer at Qualcomm. A wireless technology pioneer, Qualcomm invented the foundational technologies for 3G, 4G, and 5G, and today, Qualcomm technology can be found in just about every handset and many devices that we use every day. Qualcomm has diversified its business over the years into different industries, such as automotive, in addition to compute, XR, and more. Don joins us on today’s program to talk about the digital transformation of the automotive industry. He explains the notion of a ‘digital chassis’ essential for enhancing wireless capabilities in modern automobiles and both the hardware and software infrastructure involved. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s episode is the fourth in a special series we’re calling ‘Beyond GPU,’ taking a look at edge AI computing challenges and solutions with help from guests at leading vendors and superscale global tech brands. Our fourth guest in the series is Gordon Wilson, CEO of Rain. Rain is a tech company that builds integrated hardware-software platforms for radically cheaper AI solutions, which they refer to as ‘artificial brains.’ Gordon joins us on the program to talk about business problems facing companies across industries when it comes to driving edge computing power. Later, he pulls apart compelling use cases across industrial robotics and smart retail. This episode is sponsored by Rain. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s episode marks the return of our ‘AI Futures’ series, where we explore what AI means for the future of our society and species with a more academic caliber of guests. Today’s guest is Mark Surman, President and Executive Director of the Mozilla Foundation. Mark joins Emerj CEO and Head of Research Dan Faggella on the program to talk about lessons learned from the birth of the internet and how these lessons might translate to deeper insights about our current transition into the age of AI. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Heather Lane, Senior Architect at athenahealth. athenahealth is one of the leading U.S. providers of network-enabled services for healthcare and point-of-care mobile apps. Heather joins us on today’s program to discuss the implications of new, emerging generative AI capabilities on the healthcare space and the systems healthcare providers must implement to leverage their benefits. To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI, and strategy, visit Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s episode is the third in a special series we’re calling ‘Beyond GPU,’ taking a look at edge AI computing challenges and solutions with help from guests at leading vendors and superscale global tech brands leading the most advanced hardware platform teams on the planet. Today’s guest is Peter Tu, Chief Scientist of Computer Vision at GE Research. Peter returns to the ‘AI in Business’ podcast to talk about the advances in real-time cloud computing that are making computer vision more accessible across manufacturing, and how executives can take advantage of these advances with the proper preparations in infrastructure and systems. This episode is sponsored by Rain. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Ramesh Durvasula, Senior Vice President of R&D IT at Eli Lilly. Ramesh joins Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello on the program today to survey the biggest challenges in biotech research and how emerging capabilities, particularly in generative AI, are paving the way for a new future for the industry. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Carmen Taglienti, Chief Data Officer and Data/AI Portfolio Director at Insight. Insight is a leading IT solutions provider specializing in streamlining enterprise data infrastructure. Carmen returns to the program today to discuss high-ROI use cases in generative AI models and how organizations can identify ones that match the core business value in their operations. Later, he and Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello pull apart examples across the retail and manufacturing sectors. This episode is sponsored by Insight. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s episode is the second in a special series we’re calling ‘Beyond GPU,’ taking a look at edge AI computing challenges and solutions with help from guests at leading vendors and superscale global tech brands leading the most advanced hardware platform teams on the planet. Today’s guest is Adam Burns, Vice President of Network and Edge and Director of EdgeAI Development Tools at Intel. Adam joins us on today’s program to discuss the challenges across sectors in leveraging computer vision and the infrastructure necessary to take advantage of emerging use cases in edge computing. Visit emerj.com/beg1 to learn more about the practical steps for AI deployment for non-technical professionals.
In another installment of our ‘AI Futures’ series on the ‘AI in Business’ podcast, we host a debate on what Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) will mean for society and the human race writ large. While opinions on the subject diverge wildly from utopian to apocalyptic, the episode features grounded insight from established voices on both sides of the optimism-pessimism spectrum. Representing optimists is philosopher and thinker Roko Mijic, famous for the ‘Roko’s Basilisk’ controversy on the website Lesswrong. On the side of skepticism, we feature Dr. Roman Yampolskiy, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Louisville and a returning guest to the program. The two spar over whether or not AI with evident superior abilities to human beings will mean our certain destruction or whether such creations can remain subservient to our well-being. To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI, and strategy, visit Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Christian Mitchell, Executive Vice President and Chief Customer Officer at Northwestern Mutual. Christian joins us on the program to talk about the impact that large language models and generative AI tools will have on creating more enhanced customer experiences in financial planning and life insurance funnels by finding more ways to connect customers emotionally to their financial goals. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s episode is the first in a special series we’re calling ‘Beyond GPU,’ taking a look at edge AI computing challenges and solutions with help from guests at leading vendors and superscale global tech brands leading the most advanced hardware platform teams on the planet. Today’s guest in the series is Mark Heaps, Vice President of Brand and Creative at Groq. Groq is a tech company specializing in simplifying computing challenges to accelerate workloads in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and high-performance computing. Mark joins Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello on today’s show to talk about challenges facing business leaders in building the infrastructure necessary to scale enterprise AI capabilities. Throughout the episode, Mark examines the process across infrastructure, model development, and model deployment, offering compelling use cases and explanations for the technology behind them along the way. This episode is sponsored by Groq. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Alberto Rizzoli, Co-founder and CEO of V7. V7 is an AI-first software company that builds a high-quality image and video training platform for model and database management. Alberto returns to the program to examine larger use cases in foundational large language models, and where these capabilities are achieving ROI across healthcare, retail, and manufacturing sectors. This episode is sponsored by V7. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Alan Boehme, Chief Technology Officer at H&M. Alan has also served at a number of Fortune 500 companies, assisting them through their digital transformations, including Coca-Cola and Procter & Gamble. Alan joins us on the program today to discuss emerging challenges in retail, from micro-generational trends to the incentive for brands to share more significant amounts of consumer intelligence. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s episode marks the return of our ‘AI Futures’ series, where we explore what AI means for the future of our society and species with a more academic caliber of guests. Today’s guest is Dr. Pani Farvid, Associate Professor at The New School and founder of the SexTech Lab. She joins Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella in asking serious questions about the future potential of AI-generated content on human reward systems, namely our reproductive drives. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Erik Duhaime, Co-founder and CEO of Centaur Labs. Centaur Labs helps AI developers and data scientists label medical and scientific datasets at scale so that they can build and improve their models more quickly and easily. He joins us on the program today to talk about generative AI in the healthcare space today and the increasingly important role human experts will play in the development of the AI of tomorrow. This episode is sponsored by Centaur Labs. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Carm Taglienti, Chief Data Officer and Data/AI Portfolio Director for Insight. Insight is a leading IT solutions provider specializing in streamlining enterprise data infrastructure. On today’s show, Carm joins Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello to discuss where business leaders can find true value-creation opportunities from emerging generative AI technologies. As the hype cycle shows no signs of slowing down, Carm offers actionable, non-technical advice to business leaders for identifying needs with broad genAI crossover and preparing data-ready strategies essential for integrating these capabilities into the organization. This episode is sponsored by Insight. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Leo Barella, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Takeda. He joins Senior Editor Matthew DeMello on this week’s program to talk about the biggest challenges facing the healthcare and life science spaces and where we’re starting to see AI capabilities and use cases emerge, particularly in drug targeting development. Later, he explains what he sees as an emerging market for healthcare microservices evolving from expanding data capabilities.
Today’s guest is Zohar Bronfman, CEO and Co-founder of Pecan. Pecan is a predictive analytics software company that works with companies across retail, eCommerce and manufacturing spaces. Zohar joins Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella in another installment of our series on winning executive buy-in to talk about the lessons he has learned from a vendor perspective. Later, he pulls apart the best strategies for addressing the technology hype cycle in the sales process and what ‘executive AI fluency’ will come to mean as these technologies become more ubiquitous in everyday life. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Alberto Rizzoli, Co-founder and CEO of V7. V7 is an AI-first software company that builds a high-quality image and video training platform for model and database management. Alberto joins us on the program to discuss what generative AI capabilities will mean across industries and the biggest challenges facing enterprise leaders trying to integrate bespoke genAI models into their organizations. Today’s episode is sponsored by V7. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Anna Gressel, Counsel at Paul, Weiss. Paul, Weiss (short for Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP) is a law firm based in New York City with over 1,000 lawyers on staff. Previously, Anna served as Senior Associate at Debevoise & Plimpton. She joins us on the program today to discuss the legal exposure and risk posed by AI legislation across the world. Given how many sectors are on the cusp of AI proliferation in the advent of generative AI and large language models, Anna offers advice on the best way for business leaders to start thinking about these problems and the difference in legal exposure between kinds of organizations. If you’re interested in unlocking our AI best practice guides, frameworks for AI ROI, and specific resources for AI consultants, visit emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Dr. Robin Hanson, Associate Professor of Economics at George Mason University. Dr. Hanson is a prominent contributor to discussions on the implications of AI applications on realpolitik going into the future. In conversation with Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella, Robin contributes to our special ‘AI Futures’ series by pulling apart ethical concerns for the species as AGI develops and how the forces behind that growth must balance these concerns moving forward. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Alignment Health Chief Medical Informatics Officer, Dr. Arta Bakshandeh, D.O., M.A. Alignment Health is a tech-enabled Medicare Advantage healthcare firm that celebrated its first year as a public company in March. He joins us on the program to talk about the latest AI developments in the healthcare space, particularly regarding the limitations of machine learning and the seemingly endless potential for large language models. If you’re interested in unlocking our AI best practice guides, frameworks for AI ROI, and specific resources for AI consultants, visit emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Carlos Quezada, Vice President of Customer Experience Strategy at Hewlett Packard Enterprises. He joins Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello on the program to talk about building customer journeys simultaneously from the B2B and infrastructure perspectives. Later, they talk about how friction in customer journeys predicates a balance between automation and humans in the loop of critical workflows. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Edosa Odaro, Chief of Data Analytics and Privacy Officer at Tawuniya, former Chief Data Officer at AIG, and author of two books on overcoming data challenges. For the first of a two-episode appearance on the podcast, Edosa joins us to talk about data challenges in the insurance spaces on both sides of the table. Together with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello, Edosa offers advice ranging from how leaders can close the service gaps between insurance and the rest of financial services to the considerations business leaders need to keep in mind when pursuing insurance for business solutions utilizing AI.
Today’s guest is Dorothy Li, Chief Technology Officer of Convoy, a logistics and software company based in Seattle that has raised nearly a billion dollars in funding. Dorothy spent over a decade at Amazon, where she served as vice president of user experience, then of BI and analytic services at AWS. In conversation with Emerj Head of Research Daniel Faggella, she explains the best strategies for communicating the benefits of AI projects to non-technical leadership. Later, they discuss how Google, AWS, and Microsoft are lowering the barriers to entry for SMEs looking to start in AI and democratizing data science roles that were highly specialized just a few years ago. To discover more AI use cases, best practice guides, white papers, frameworks, and more, join Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Frantz Saintellemy, President and Chief Operating Officer of LeddarTech. LeddarTech is a global software company headquartered in Québec City, Canada, that develops and provides comprehensive perception software solutions that enable the deployment of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). Frantz joins us on the program to talk about the problems facing automotive OEMs and Tier 1-2 suppliers when it comes to safety and how regulations are beginning to catch up to the technology at play in these solutions. This episode is sponsored by LeddarTech. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Adam Oberdick, Lead Director of Asset Protection at CVS Health. Adam has over 15 years of experience in asset protection across the retail sector for such name brands as Kmart, Target and Nike. In conversation with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello on today’s program to talk about how asset protection workflows have changed over that time thanks to AI capabilities and how these technologies are changing conversations between asset protection teams and retail leaders. Throughout, Adam gives direct insight into the signals and narratives that compel C-suites to act on loss prevention insights from new data tools. If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Dr. Yossi Sheffi, Professor of Engineering Systems and Director of the Center for Transportation and Logistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is also the author of ‘The Magic Conveyor Belt: Supply Chains, AI and the Future of Work.’ In conversation with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello, Dr. Sheffi analyzes the different challenges facing logistics and manufacturing leaders when it comes to ascendent AI technologies like autonomous freight. Later their discussion offers insight on where human judgment is still very necessary to build trust into workflows.
Today’s guests are Melissa Easy, Vice President and General Manager of Clinical Technologies at IQVIA, and Tim Riely, Vice President of Clinical Data Analytics at IQVIA. They return to the program to talk with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello about the current state of AI in life sciences and clinical trials. Throughout the episode, Melissa and Tim underscore both the ongoing and impending impact of large language models on report writing and other clinical trials-oriented use cases.
Today’s guests are DLA Piper Chief Data Scientist Bennett Borden and Chair of DLA Piper’s AI Practice Danny Tobey. DLA Piper is among the world’s leading law firms, and as Bennet and Danny explore with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello on today’s podcast, they have some fascinating use cases at the cutting edge of AI applications in the legal realm. In their first of two appearances, Bennet and Danny examine how AI impacts document management in the legal sector. Throughout the conversation, the trio constantly tries to look at legal workflows and roles through the lens of data processing – especially in areas of cross-over with adjacent sectors in financial services and healthcare. If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Dr. Nele Jessel, Chief Medical Officer at Athenahealth. Athenahealth is one of the leading U.S. providers of network-enabled services for healthcare and point-of-care mobile apps. She joins us on the program to talk about the biggest challenges facing healthcare – including the burden that a lot of new technology is placing on doctors. Throughout her appearance, Dr. Jesel underscores the many ways data can be used for improved patient experiences that bear a strong resemblance to customer experience workflows in other industries. To discover more AI use cases, best practice guides, white papers, frameworks, and more, join Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guests are Melissa Easy, Vice President and General Manager of Clinical Technologies at IQVIA, and Tim Riely, Vice President of Clinical Data Analytics at IQVIA. They join Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello on the program to talk about the current state of AI in life sciences and clinical trials. Throughout the episode, Melissa and Tim underscore the extent that clinical trials are changing thanks to data, and how life sciences will change as more people seek clinical trials as a form of alternative care. To discover more AI use cases, best practice guides, white papers, frameworks, and more, join Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Director of Enterprise Accounts at AI21 Labs, Michael Elias. AI21 Labs is a Tel Aviv-based software company specializing in natural language processing-based systems. Michael joins Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello on the program to pour through the growing number of use cases for large language models in the financial services space. This episode is sponsored by AI21 Labs. Learn more about sponsored content and how to engage with the Emerj audience at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is PwC partner in Data, Analytics, and AI, Bret Greenstein. Bret returns to the program to share best practices for selling the C-suite on AI initiatives with Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella as part of a special episode series on winning executive buy-in. In the process, Bret emphasizes how to communicate in ways tailored to executives transitioning from what he describes as ‘spreadsheets and gut feelings’ to genuinely data-driven insights. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Muddu Sudhakar, CEO of Aisera. Aisera is a tech company specializing in conversational AI that helps customer support teams answer tickets faster. Muddu returns to the platform after appearing on our sister ‘AI in Financial Services’ podcast to talk about how large language models are at the heart of transformative conversational AI for legacy and text-based financial firms – not just for customer experiences but also for employees. If you’re interested in unlocking our AI best practice guides, frameworks for AI ROI, and specific resources for AI consultants, visit emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is VP of Analytics and Strategic Finance at Etsy, Gerald van den Berg. He joins Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello on the program to discuss the convergence of a post-COVID retail environment for fraud and the AI-driven technological advances behind fraud detection and customer personalization at the heart of current privacy concerns. Later, Gerald explains the best strategies for classifying customers based on risk and how to balance loss prevention and serving honest customers. This episode is sponsored by Riskified. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Asif Hasan, Co-founder of Quantiphi. Quantiphi is an AI-First digital engineering company that designs AI-driven services and platforms for broad applications across industries. In conversation with Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella, Asif explores the potential of large language models with pragmatic explanations of how the technology works. Throughout, he underscores that the costs of cognitive work is about to plummet thanks to the impact of this technology. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Dr. Raghav Vadhera, Lead Technical Architect for AI/ML Platform & Services at Raytheon. In conversation with Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella recorded live at The AI Accelerator Summit in Boston in October 2022, they cover leveling up AI public-private projects through changing leadership mindsets with more and young talent that helps older enterprises unlearning old lessons from the IT-dominant world. In the process, Raghav offers lessons learned in earning executive buy-in amid challenging stakeholder relationships throughout his entire career.
Today’s guest is Mark Brunner, President of Primer Federal. Together with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello, Mark examines the three major gaps between the Department of Defense’s current AI capabilities and the race for dominance with China – especially in areas where what he calls the defense industrial network can fill with emerging AI superiorities emerging from the Ukrainian battlefront. Later, they talk about what sets the race apart in the history of armed conflict and the importance of end-user data from subject matter experts in updating legacy systems. This episode is sponsored by Primer. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is NLPLogix CFO and COO Fallon Gorman. NLP Logix is a fast-growing AI services firm based in Florida that serves both the public and private sectors. Fallon joins us on today’s program to discuss the best strategies for organizations to attain ROI from AI projects. In conversation with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello, Fallon talks about how “pain points” are symptomatic of larger problems and how easily business leadership can misjudge the complexity of a project based on a lack of concrete understanding of AI’s true capabilities. This episode is sponsored by NLP Logix. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Gero Gunkel, Chief Operating Officer and Data Science Leader for Zurich Insurance. Gero returns to the program to explain to Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello how much successful AI adoptions rely on planning that has nothing to do with coding, data, or algorithms. In listing considerations from design to keeping subject matter experts engaged, Gero cites specific insurance-related examples where non-technical decisions can make or break an early in-house AI initiative. Download our PDF brief “AI in Insurance: Executive Cheat Sheet” at emerj.com/ins1.
Today’s guest is VP Platform for AI21 Labs, Dan Padnos. AI21 Labs is a Tel Aviv-based software company specializing in natural language processing-based systems. Together with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello, Dan looks at retail and eCommerce challenges in ensuring accurate product descriptions and personalization at scale, and how advanced large language models like GPT4 are providing solutions. This episode is sponsored by AI21Labs. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Carlo Giovine, a partner with McKinsey and lead for QuantumBlack Labs. He joins us to share findings from McKinsey’s “State of AI” in 2022 report – and why the nuances of the study run counter to a lot of cliches we find in the current hype cycles of AI-associated technologies like large language models and conversational AI. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Chris Nelson, Senior Vice President of Asset Protection at Gap Inc. Chris joins us to share his experience in loss prevention going from the military to on-site security and on to the world of data. He describes the challenges in each realm, where they are interrelated, and what the difference looks like in data signals. This episode is sponsored by Riskified. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Amaresh Tripathy, Senior Vice President and Global Business Leader at Genpact. Genpact is an American professional services firm that employs over 100,000 people in over 30 countries. He leads a team of 15,000 analytics experts covering data engineering, data insights, AI, and machine learning. Today’s program is the first in a multi-episode series focusing on winning executive buy-in for AI projects. Amaresh joins Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Fagella to talk about the importance of fluency in business and data among enterprise leadership. Later, he offers a framework for cooperatively assessing an organization’s capacity for innovation and scale. To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI, and strategy, visit Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Connie Chan, General Partner at a16z. In conversation with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello, Connie discusses the challenges consumer companies are facing from distribution to mobile technology. Later, she addresses how AI use cases in personalization and the consolidation of social media as marketing distribution channels will shape the future of consumer technology.
A note from a16z on today’s episode:
The content here is for informational purposes only and should not be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice, or be used to evaluate any investment or security and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details, please see a16z.com/disclosures.
Today’s guest is Ryan Rascop, Senior Business Development Manager at Insight, a leading IT solutions provider specializing in streamlining enterprise data infrastructure. In conversation with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello, Ryan discusses what sets Centers of Excellence (CoE) apart as an organization-wide approach to adopting AI. Throughout their conversation, he spells out what organizations should pursue CoEs, what signals can tell business leaders that a CoE is the ultimate remedy for reconciling data with their business goals, and how to approach scaling infrastructure for those ends. This episode is sponsored by Insight. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is NLPLogix Modeling and Analytics Lead and Data Scientist Ben Webster. NLP Logix is a fast-growing AI services firm based in Florida that serves both the public and private sectors. Ben joins us on the program to discuss topic search as a business capability and the value of detecting meaningful signals originating both inside and outside the organization. Together with Emerj Senior Matthew DeMello, Ben addresses the challenges in this emerging discipline and how to connect results to hard ROI. This episode is sponsored by NLP Logix. To learn more about Emerj Media and how to reach the Emerj audience, visit emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Ylan Kazi, Chief Data Officer at Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota. Ylan returns to the program in conversation with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello to discuss how AI is changing the intimacy and accuracy of diagnostics in ways that revolutionize how healthcare leaders look at the patient experience. In comparing relevant use cases from large language models and the potential of new platforms like ChatGPT, Ylan focuses on where emerging healthcare AI capabilities are finding serious ROI. If you’re interested in unlocking our AI best practice guides, frameworks for AI ROI, and specific resources for AI professionals, visit emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Co-Founder and Co-CEO of AI21 Labs, Ori Goshen. AI21 Labs is a Tel Aviv-based software company specializing in natural language processing-based systems. In conversation with Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella, Ori expounds on generative AI use cases that carry true ROI potential for every business and where the technology is expected to take us over the next decade. Together, they offer analyses of genAI’s capacity as an “autocomplete”-style technology and where comparisons between the two begin and end. This episode is sponsored by AI21 Labs. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Instacart Chief Operations Officer Asha Sharma. She joins us on the program to discuss the biggest challenges facing retail leaders in the post-COVID world and how data is playing a major role in their solutions. Throughout, she pulls from her experience in the grocery space to underscore how AI use cases in fraud, personalization, and customer “inspiration” represent converging vectors in a new, transformative, and digitally-driven approach to eCommerce. This episode is sponsored by Riskified. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Nell Watson, Executive Consultant Philosopher at Apple and AI Ethics Maestro at the IEEE Standards Association. Nell also leads a host of initiatives in teaching machines prosocial behavior and resolving cultural conflicts. She joins the AI in Business podcast to talk about the potential of AI to promote propaganda efforts through the lens of ‘zersetzung’ – a psychological espionage strategy developed during the Cold War where operatives wage warfare with a target’s sanity. To discover more AI use cases, best practice guides, white papers, frameworks, and more, join Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is NLP Logix Modeling and Analytics Lead and Data Scientist Katie Bakewell. NLP Logix is a fast-growing AI services firm based in Florida that serves both the public and private sectors. Katie joins us on the program to discuss the data science lifecycle and what business leaders can do to avoid challenges in model development. Together with Emerj Senior Matthew DeMello, Katie offers best practices for detecting where models are misreading the reality of the results on the ground and how to adjust for changing circumstances and business strategies. This episode is sponsored by NLP Logix. Learn more about sponsored content and how to engage with the Emerj audience at emerj.com/ad1.
Today's guest is the Co-Founder of GreyOrange, Samay Kohli. GreyOrange is a warehouse robotics and software company that works in apparel, retail, consumer electronics, and home improvement, among other industries. In conversation with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello, Samay discusses the labor shortages facing warehouses and where 'real, tangible' AI is making a difference in helping fulfillment agents optimize their workflows. If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today's guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast is Geoffrey Smalling, VP of Engineering at Flexport, a global logistics company with a multi-billion dollar valuation. In conversation with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello, Geoffrey explains how different global supply chain problems look end-to-end than any specific "link" in the chain, even as the world economy puts COVID in the rearview mirror. Later, they pull apart use cases in global brands and wholesale distribution and pull apart the balance between data collection and visualizing the most critical information in their user dashboards. If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Eyal Raab, Vice President of Business Development and Sales for Riskified, a publicly traded Saas company that specializes in fraud and chargeback prevention. In conversation with Emerj Senior Editor Matt DeMello, Eyal talks about the impact of AI in preventing forms of eCommerce fraud, including using merchant goodwill policies against them, such as empty box fraud. Because of the multiple layers and players in eCommerce, many of these applications bear a striking resemblance to others in KYC compliance in financial services and predictive maintenance for manufacturing. This episode is sponsored by Riskified. Learn more about sponsored content and how to engage with the Emerj audience at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Conversica Chief Marketing Officer David Greenberg. Together with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello, David explores the biggest challenges for sales and marketing teams trying to turn leads into opportunities. Later, they examine where data is making a difference in solving those challenges in helping enterprises grow their outbound in a manageable way that insulates themselves from the friction of high SDR turnover. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is John Bohannon, Senior Director of Data Science and Director of Science at Primer.ai. Primer is a security AI platform serving Fortune 500 companies and multiple defense agencies in the US federal government. Together with Emerj CEO and Head of Research, Daniel Faggella, John pulls apart what makes the Ukraine war truly unique in the scope of both history and technology – and how AI is playing an integral role in the conflict for both sides. This episode is sponsored by Primer. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Gero Gunkel, Chief Operating Officer and Data Science Leader for Zurich Insurance. In conversation with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello, Gero expounds on the increasing impact of large language models on the insurance space driven by the growing size of these models, allowing them to tackle more complex problems for more complex sectors. Later, they touch on the impact of ChatGPT and best practices for insurance firms just starting to use large language models. To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI, and strategy, visit Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Eigen Technologies CEO Lewis Liu. Eigen is an intelligent document processing platform specializing in helping organizations transform documents into any form of data. In conversation with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello, Lewis talks about the challenges of legacy systems in financial services and intelligent document processing as a means of unlocking the information inside. Throughout the conversation, they differentiate the technologies involved from existing hype around LLMs and give a sober analysis of their exact capabilities and incapabilities. This episode is sponsored by Eigen Technologies. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today's guest is Scott Zoldi, Chief Analytics Officer of FICO. In conversation with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello, Scott helps dissect somewhat troublesome findings from FICO's recent survey on responsible AI in financial services. Later, they discuss ways that business leaders can close the gap in AI understanding and education often felt between organizations and their boards. To discover more AI use cases, best practice guides, white papers, frameworks, and more, join Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Carm Taglienti, Distinguished Engineer and Product Portfolio Director for Insight, a leading IT solutions provider specializing in streamlining enterprise data infrastructure. He joins us on the podcast today to talk about some of the challenges organizations face both in laying the groundwork for AI transformation from scratch and developing existing systems in a way that avoids technical debt. This episode is sponsored by Insight. Learn more about sponsored content and how to engage with the Emerj audience at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Aamar Hussain, Director of Data & AI Customer Solution Architecture for Azure at Microsoft. Aamar also has experience at Google and helping transform businesses through customer experience. He joins Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello today in fielding questions about what do – particularly financial services organizations – wish they had known at the initial, or “foundational” phase of a customer experience transformation through data. Later, they discuss potential criteria for determining whether an organization should seek a vendor or develop data capabilities in-house. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Ylan Kazi, Chief Data Officer at Blue Cross Blue Shield. He joins us in the first of two episodes to discuss AI’s strides in diagnostics over the years, primarily driven by visual data in radiology and elsewhere. But this is not to discount where we find compelling use cases in text and language data – especially with how the healthcare space has reacted to the emergence of Chat-GPT and large language models. To discover critical AI applications and trends, download our whitepaper “3 Ways to Discover AI Trends” at emerj.com/t3.
Today's guests are WorkFusion VP, Head of AI Paul Tepper, and VP of Product Management Tina Chace. WorkFusion is a software company with over $340 million in funding that blends RPA and AI – a process often called intelligent automation – to help businesses digitize their operations. In conversation with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello, Paul, and Tina differentiates intelligent automation from RPA and explain why compliance and financial crime are particularly well suited for intelligent automation as a solution. If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Senior Vice President, Federal, R+D at Palantir, Shannon Clark. Shannon has spent nearly twenty years immersed in the defense sector, both for private contractors and the federal government. In conversation with Emerj CEO Daniel Faggella, Shannon explains the core cultural and technical barriers that make AI readiness challenging in defense – and the best places in the Department of Defense to begin preparing legacy defense systems for AI enhancement. Later, they discuss the high demand for engineers in the federal government and offer advice to AI-driven defense startups. To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI, and strategy, visit Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today's guest is Dr. Lori Cenci, US Head of Unauthorized Trade Surveillance at HSBC. She has over two decades of experience in risk, compliance, conduct, capital markets, quantitative research, product development, client advisory, consulting, writing, and teaching with such austere financial services brands as HSBC. In conversation with Emerj CEO Daniel Faggella, they dissect the impact of AI on insider risk detection and compliance in the financial services space and what a day in the life is like for a market abuse investigator. Later, Lori offers strategies for sorting organizational problems and developing the right questions that automatically cultivate the best data to detect insider risk. If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest for the final episode in our five-part ‘AI Futures’ series on the ‘AI in Business’ podcast is Tom Davenport, an American academic, business leader, and world-renowned voice in matters of artificial intelligence. He joins Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella to discuss the forces that are making new developments in generative AI mandatory across the global economy. Later they examine how business leaders can make the most of these technologies without incurring undue legal risk. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Piotr Niedzwiedz, Founder & CEO at neptune.ai. In conversation with Emerj CEO Daniel Faggella, they discuss how business leaders can best help their organizations navigate the transition from an AI services model to an AI product model. From challenges in venture capital to judging whether or not your AI product can even be a viable service, to begin with, Piotr pulls directly from his experience at neptune.ai and beyond to offer the audience direct insight. To discover more AI use cases, best practice guides, white papers, frameworks, and more, join Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today's guest for part four in our five-part 'AI Futures' series on the 'AI in Business' podcast is Dr. Francesca Rossi, Fellow and AI Ethics Global Leader at IBM and President of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence. She joins Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella to discuss challenges and solutions for humanity posed by the evolution of generative AI, virtual reality, and computer-brain interface. If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Dan Diasio, Global Artificial Intelligence Leader at EY Consulting. Dan has spent the last two decades leading data and AI initiatives at the legacy financial services firm. He joins Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella to talk about the challenges unique to legacy institutions in starting AI projects and laying the groundwork for organization-wide transformations from effectively cultivating data. To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI, and strategy, visit Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest on the ‘AI in Business’ podcast is Chief Medical Officer, Chief Learning Officer, and Co-Founder at Reulay Inc., Dr. Srini Pillay. He joins Emerj CEO Daniel Faggella on our special ‘AI Futures’ series to discuss the capacity for virtual and augmented reality technologies to alter emotional states in users. While they look far into upcoming possibilities, the truth is this technology is here in a plethora of use cases Dr. Pillay and Daniel discuss in depth. Later, Srini explains the challenges in customizing virtual experiences for individual users. To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI, and strategy, visit Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today's guest is Supreet Kaur, Assistant Vice President at Morgan Stanley. She's spent the last five years working in data spaces across financial services and life sciences, along with essential advocacy work in mentoring a diverse next generation of data science leaders. In conversation with Emerj CEO Daniel Faggella, Supreet tells business leaders three metrics they need to measure their enterprise AI success. Later, they dissect common approaches to ROI from leadership and IT teams that are at odds with AI adoption's experimental nature. To discover more AI use cases, best practice guides, white papers, frameworks, and more, join Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Nir Eyal, Stanford professor and the author of Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products. In conversation with Emerj CEO and Head of Research, Nir digs deeper into the potential of VR and generative AI to reinforce good and bad habits from the products we use. Once we reach the point of immersion with these technologies, Nir points out on the podcast, their ability to influence our behavior will be enormous. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today's guest is Ilke Demir, designer of FakeCatcher and Senior Staff Research Scientist at Intel. FakeCatcher is a new AI-powered deepfake video detection tool developed by Intel. In conversation with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello on the podcast, Ilke explains the science behind Intel's new deepfake detection technology and its many applications for both individual journalists and media enterprises. Later, she talks about how her research has illuminated even deeper mysteries behind the question, "What makes us human?". Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today's guest is Lambert Hogenhout, Chief of Data, Analytics, and Emerging Technologies at the United Nations. Lambert is also a project lead with A Future in AI – a nonprofit focused on fostering a dialog between youth, tech leadership, and global policymakers on the nature and implications of AI. In conversation with Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella, Lambert explains the dangers of personalized virtual worlds and how best to think of the relationship between humanity and technology going forward. If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today's guest is the Head of Research at Bloc Ventures, David Pollington. Bloc Ventures is an investment firm known for its early-stage entrances and lucrative exits in deep tech. In conversation with Emerj CEO Daniel Faggella, David talks about how the barriers to entry for serious data analytics use cases are lowering to startups. He cites a growing interest from industrial sectors in overcoming challenges in limited data as a driving force behind the trend. Later, they discuss the economic viability of one learning method surrounding the commercialization of limited data problems. Discover more AI use cases, best practice guides, white papers, frameworks, and more by joining Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Mark London, Chief Risk Officer for Abound, formerly known as Fintern – a startup specializing in data-driven approaches to small consumer loans. In conversation with Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella, Mark talks about the differences in small and large consumer loans from a data perspective and how lenders can decrease their risk without treating credit scores as the end-all-be-all. And later, they discuss new business opportunities coming from the democratization of data and how long it will take before legacy financial institutions can truly reap the benefits. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Remi Duquette, Vice President of Innovation and Industrial AI at Maya HTT. Short for Maya Heat Transfer Technologies, Maya HTT is a leading software developer and engineering services provider with nearly 200 employees based in Chicago and specializing in heavy industry solutions. In conversation with Emerj Head of Research Daniel Faggella, Remi explains the growing importance of real-time telemetry data for preventing unplanned downtime in heavy manufacturing spaces. The real challenge, Remi emphasizes, is in honing the data to give business leaders a singular real-time picture of their activities relative to their business challenges. This episode is sponsored by Maya HTT. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Dorothy Li, Chief Technology Officer of Convoy, a logistics and software company based in Seattle that has raised nearly a billion dollars in funding. Dorothy spent over a decade at Amazon, where she served as vice president of user experience, then of BI and analytic services at AWS. Together with Emerj Head of Research, Daniel Faggella, Dorothy explores a logistics use case for AI capabilities in predictive inventory and the impact it is having on manufacturing writ large. Still, there are many challenges, among them that truckers and freight carriers don’t have the equipment (mobile apps, GPS) that other last mile and delivery workers have. Later, they examine where AI can be applied to help schedule deliveries to avoid unplanned downtime. To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI and strategy, visit Emerj Plus: emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Emily Bremner, Fractional Product Leader and Advisor. Emily was the SVP of Product at Signal AI, a software company specializing in external intelligence with over $100 million in funding at the time of this episode’s recording. In conversation with Emerj’s Head of Research, Daniel Faggella, Emily talks about how AI can not only help companies manage their internal data but also process data from their external environment to find insights into risks and opportunities. Later, she dives into use cases for strategic reputation management, citing how interactions between larger institutions and the media can impact investment risk to tax and regulatory compliance. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today's guest is Dr. Peter Day, Chief Technology Officer at Quantcast. Quantcast is a technology firm founded in 2006, working in AI-driven audience metrics and advertising from the industry's earliest days. In conversation with Emerj CEO Daniel Faggella on the AI in Business podcast, Peter offers a tour of his experience building successful AI teams. From recruitment and hiring to finding the proper dynamics with early adoption stakeholders – what does it take to get the right people in the right "seats on the bus"? Peter answers that question and more, offering guidance and best practices, especially for business leaders outside the AI world from non-tech organizations and industries. If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Scott Nowson, Artificial Intelligence Leader at PwC Middle East. Scott has a Ph.D. in natural language processing and has worked for many years before PwC as a consultant for legacy enterprises looking to get started in AI. Not long ago, the AI in Business podcast featured episodes discussing how to hire and build AI teams, focusing on crucial insights most helpful for non-technical business leaders. In today’s episode, we explore the topic from the other side of the table, mining Scott’s technical expertise for what makes successful AI adoption teams best work together. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Caroline Gorski, CEO of R² Factory – a data and tech-focused subsidiary of Rolls Royce. In conversation with Emerj CEO Daniel Faggella, they discuss being a new kind of company underneath a century-old legacy luxury name brand in heavy industry and the benefits of creating a separate experimentation-first culture within a big enterprise. Is it possible to develop subcultures that can do that kind of nimble innovation? Where do people feel brave enough to innovate and experiment in ways that foster legacy business? All are easier said than done – but Caroline shares hands-on experience testing strategies that work in person throughout the podcast today. To access Emerj’s non-technical guide for getting started with AI deployment, check out emerj.com/beg1.
Today's guest is the Director of Engineering, Telecommunications Orchestration, Analytics, and Automation at Google, Mazin Gilbert. Mazin's career is one that has seen its fair share of enterprise teams facing the challenges of legacy data stacks as they enter the age of AI, including AT&T. In discussing his work at Google with Emerj CEO Daniel Faggella, he talks about what he sees on the 'other side of the fence' in a tech company environment. He also shares critical insight on the difference both cultures need from leadership to achieve successful ROI. If you've enjoyed or benefited from the strategies shared in this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today's guest is VP and Chief Supply Chain Executive at Westfall, David Schultz. Westfall is a contract manufacturing firm based in Las Vegas, Nevada, working primarily in plastics and resins. First, David and Emerj CEO Daniel Faggella break down challenges specific to procurement and what makes the process so consequential to manufacturing processes. Later, they examine what the 'guessing games' of future manufacturing variables will look like when better informed by AI-derived insights. This episode is sponsored by Arkestro. To learn more about how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options, visit emerj.com/ad1.
Today's guest is Aktana Chairman and CEO David Ehrlich. Aktana is an AI vendor that helps life science commercial teams go to market with their products. On the AI in Business podcast, David talks about the challenges that marketing and product teams face in getting pharmaceuticals in the marketplace and where these challenges overlap with broader industry applications in banking and retail. Later, he and Emerj CEO Daniel Faggella discuss where AI adds value to the process in unique use cases and what gives life science commercial teams the highest chances of success in adopting AI. If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today's guest is Executive Director, Global Deloitte AI Institute & AI Ethics/Tech Ethics Leader, Beena Ammanath. Beena is the author of the book Trustworthy AI and previously served in tech leadership roles at Hewlett Packard, Bank of America, and General Electric before arriving at Deloitte in 2019. In her conversation with Emerj CEO Daniel Faggella, Beena pulls apart putting AI ethics in action at medium and large enterprises in ways that genuinely serve to solve business goals and customer problems. Beena also offers a measurable process for screening out downsides and advice on who needs to be in the room to have realistic conversations about AI ethics. If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today's guest is the Head of Artificial Intelligence at Maya HTT, Remi Duquette. In today's episode, Remi talks about computer vision or what people imagine when they think about computer vision through a distinctly human lens. With Emerj CEO Daniel Faggella, Remi especially pulls apart how machines can look at things in ways that humans can't, as it turns out. They also discuss tools in job vision, listening, and how to go beyond the human senses to be able to drive manufacturing results in predictive maintenance and improving output quality. This episode is sponsored by Maya HTT. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today's guest is Symphony AI CEO Sanjay Dhawan. Sanjay took the helm of Symphony last year after leading the automotive AI firm Cerence since 2019. On the AI in Business podcast, Sanjay discusses insights on using highly defined business outcomes to frame up how fast to scale enterprise data strategies, citing examples in banking and CPG. Together with Emerj CEO Daniel Faggella, Sanjay also dissects the different ways the workflows therein can change for startups and legacy enterprises so that each can judge whether a deployment is right for them. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today's guest is the Head of Research at Bloc Ventures, David Pollington. Previously, David spent nine years leading web services and developing collaborative platforms for GSMA before joining Bloc Ventures, a VC firm based in London that invests in many early technologies based on AI. On the AI in Business podcast, David discusses the possibility of 'complete autonomy' in machinery across several heavy industries — construction, mining, and manufacturing among them. That means machinery in need of no human intervention to complete tasks in these fields. Looking years into the future, David also answers vital questions on what the processes and data infrastructure will look like for such a transition. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today's guest is VP of Strategy and Offerings at IBM, Marisa Viveros. 5G is a widely misunderstood technology that most might associate with mobile connectivity and telecoms spaces. Still, it stands to make a tremendous impact on a broad spectrum of industrial sectors underneath the surface of its reputation. Marisa joins us to separate fact from fiction and tell business leaders precisely what they need to understand about 5G, what it means in simple terms, and what it allows for new capabilities on the telecommunications grid. Later in the episode, she and Emerj CEO Daniel Faggella look to the future with new use cases showing the new customer insights to be unlocked in combining emerging AI capabilities with 5G's potential.
Today’s guest is Divyabh Mishra, Founder & CEO at CrowdANALYTIX. In conversation with Emerj’s CEO Daniel Faggella, Divyabh talks about the business challenges in the eCommerce space when it comes to collecting and ensuring the accuracy of product data in high-volume product databases. Among these problems is that retail itself remains plagued with arcane technology, and Divyabh discusses the many potential applications of AI in making these legacy systems more intelligent — in particular: more efficiently loading product data and ensuring the accuracy of searches for the highest quality eCommerce customer experience from the user’s perspective. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Christian van Leeuwen, CSO and Co-Founder of FRISS. His company accrued over $88 million to fund a workforce of 200 employees focused on claims underwriting, investigation, and working with the biggest names in the insurance space. In today’s episode, Christian talks about insurance leaders’ trends in underwriting and claims over the last few years since COVID: what is changing, what they see more of, and what new challenges they are facing. Then later, he and Emerj CEO Dan Faggella pick apart a big-picture concept that FRISS insiders refer to as trust automation. This episode is sponsored by FRISS. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Aditya Ramesh, Creator of DALL·E, Co-creator of DALL·E 2 at OpenAI. You might already be familiar with how the DALL·E platforms have taken the internet by storm in the past year with their ability to turn text into images in any style the user can imagine. Ramesh discusses how the technology works in layman’s terms and sets the stage for where individuals and organizations can take the platform into the future as a ‘creative co-pilot’ to their work. If you’re interested in unlocking our AI best practice guides, frameworks for AI ROI, and specific resources for AI consultants, visit emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Edmund Zagorin, Founder of Arkestro. Edmund founded Arkestro in 2017, and the company now operates in several industries in addition to the automotive space. In this episode, Edmund discusses two main topics: First, what makes the automotive purchasing process so complex, from buying electronics to seat fabric, the chassis, the tires, and onward. Secondly, Edmund pulls apart the many AI applications in this process and the data needed to help business leaders make more intelligent decisions about who we buy from, the pricing we’re paying for, and the past purchasing activities of our organizations. This episode is sponsored by Arkestro. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Chris Joynt, who served as AIoT Co-Innovation Leader in the Solutions Group at PTC at the time of our recording. In today’s episode, Chris walks the audience through some actual applications of artificial intelligence and IoT in the enterprise. In addition to explaining some of the most important lessons learned for leaders, including a frank discussion on how to think about getting started on these projects when so much can go wrong when it comes to sensors and data streams out in the real world. This episode is sponsored by PTC – more here. To learn more about Emerj Media and how to reach the Emerj audience, visit emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Sean Gourley, CEO of Primer, a company that has raised $170 million for pioneering large-scale data analysis. In today’s episode, Sean discusses how China’s autocratic regime has certain advantages in developing AI capabilities in the theaters of cyberwarfare and virtual reality. Throughout the conversation, Sean offers his expertise advising how the West can maintain its strategic advantage in these technologies and for how long. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Christian Floerkemeier, VP of Product, CTO, and Co-Founder of Scandit. Scandit is an AI firm focused on smart data capture and barcode scanning. Christian received his Ph.D. in Computer Science in Zurich and was the Associate Director for the AI ID Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In this episode, Christian focuses on this retail workflow of checking inventory and prices. He speaks about where AI might not only help speed up that process but also potentially improve the experience of the individual employees working there. Christian provides interesting computer vision use-cases and efficiencies and provides practical adoption advice for business leaders. This episode is brought to you by Scandit. To learn more about reaching Emerj’s global audience via audio, email, or otherwise, visit emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Kelly Harlin, Director of Solutions Marketing and Commercialization at Sharp NEC. Sharp and NEC collectively have approximately 160 thousand employees as two of Japan’s largest electronics manufacturers. Kelly speaks specifically about their computer vision applications in retail in this episode. She opens up with some information retailers wish they knew about people who shop with them physically and in person. Secondly, Kelly discusses what AI can collect about a user, from the cost of their shoes to how they walk, and how this data can inform people responsible for marketing to their audience in different geographic regions where diverse customers will require different responses and approaches. Access a vast collection of use-cases for AI applications and trends in retail and more at emerj.com/ret1.
Our guest today is Christian Floerkemeier, VP of Product, CTO, and Co-Founder of Scandit. Scandit has raised nearly $300 million to address smart data capture, they have hundreds of employees, and logistics and supply chain is one of the spaces in which they operate. In today’s episode, we’re focusing on two different use-cases that share the use of computer vision. First, we discuss ID verification applications in alcohol delivery services, followed by increasing efficiency in loading and unloading trucks in supply chain juncture points with computer vision. Christian details how these two use-cases work in terms of where the computer vision is being leveraged, how the data is stored, and the realities of adoption. This episode is brought to you by Scandit. To learn more about Emerj Media and how to reach the Emerj audience, visit emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Mazin Gilbert, Director of Engineering, Telecommunications Orchestration, Analytics, and Automation at Google. Some five or six years ago, Mazin joined us to discuss artificial intelligence in telecommunications when he was with AT&T. Since this last episode, AI has become inevitable in the telco space with substantial AI deployments across the industry. In this episode, Mazin first speaks about what he’s observed in the telecommunications world that he considers some of the early signs of change in data infrastructure and the fruitful use of AI. He then dives into where artificial intelligence is currently adding value to the telco industry. To discover critical AI applications and trends, download our whitepaper “3 Ways to Discover AI Trends” at emerj.com/t3.
Our guest on today’s episode of the AI in Business podcast is VP of Artificial Intelligence at Samsung SDS America Patrick Bangert. Patrick discusses the efficacy of making minimal workflow changes a goal from the start and how the AI capabilities pioneered at Samsung have made their way to widespread success for other enterprises. In particular, Patrick gives actionable insight into how minimizing change management friction benefits end users — and why the way people and systems work together remains much more complicated even than machine learning. To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI and strategy, visit Emerj Plus: emerj.com/p1.
This week we’re continuing our series on artificial intelligence in compliance. Our guest is Thomas Mangine, Director of AML and Risk Reliance for the Bank of Montreal. In this episode, Thomas shares his unique perspective on staying ahead of adversaries from financial services and defense points of view. He also discusses how data is becoming more valuable and what particular kinds of data are creating new opportunities for emerging forms of AI capabilities. Thomas also details several unique compliance-related use cases and circumstances regarding concerns about sanctions. This episode is part of our broader series on compliance brought to you by Smarsh. If you haven’t already, be sure to tune into the previous episodes in this series at podcast.emerj.com to discover more key insights from leaders in the industry.
Our guest on today’s AI in Business Podcast episode is VP of Product & Partnerships at OpenAI Peter Welinder. He and Emerj CEO Daniel Faggella discuss the potential impact of the model on numerous sectors, along with the possibility that these tools could have unforeseen consequences when placed at everyone’s fingertips. In other words, GPT-3 could unleash many examples that show what we think we want from AI capabilities is not what we actually want. To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI and strategy, visit Emerj Plus: emerj.com/p1.
Today's guest is General Manager of Artificial Intelligence & Innovation at Microsoft David Carmona. David shares his experience at the frontlines of AI enterprise adoption at a legacy tech brand, and all the setbacks they faced along the way. David also discusses how his team found management buy-in on AI capabilities through effective education and developed the kind of long-term strategy necessary to lay the groundwork for organization-wide digital transformation. If you are interested in more interviews about the future of artificial intelligence across industries, check out the AI Futures Series on AI in Business podcast on all major platforms at emerj.com/podcast.
Today's guest is Jackson Hull, former COO of OakNorth, a unicorn company recently listed in Forbes as Europe's most valuable fintech. In a financial services-focused discussion that echoes the theme of our recent Monday series on AI success factors, Jackson highlights a use case in helping banks analyze the risk of their loan portfolio. Jackson also advises business leaders on what they should keep in mind when deploying early AI projects, particularly for those enterprises with uniquely high levels of external demand. If you find yourself benefiting from the insights in today's episode, consider supporting us by leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts and telling us what you’d like to hear more about in future episodes.
Today’s guest is Arcangelo Grisi, Head of Market Surveillance for the U.S. at HSBC. As one of the largest financial services organizations in the world, HSBC generates approximately $50B in revenue per year. In this episode, Arcangelo explores the monitoring of trades regarding manipulating the markets and monitoring communications. He goes into detail about how challenging and essential this role really is within the enterprise. This episode is part of our broader series on AI and compliance sponsored by Smarsh. Smarsh has given us a broad mandate to reach AI experts in the domain of compliance and learn their best practices for adopting the technology. To learn more about sponsored content and how to engage with the Emerj audience, visit emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Dr. Krishna Bulusu. Holding a Ph.D. from the Institute of Cancer Research and completing his post-doctoral research at the University of Edinburgh, Krishna was, until recently, an Honorary Lecturer for the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Sheffield. Krishna has worked at Astra Zeneca for the last six years and is currently the Director of Early Computational Oncology. In this episode, Krishna discusses how we can more effectively leverage endless streams of data in the life sciences industry to develop drugs and treatments with knowledge graphs. He also shares his perspective on the current impact of AI and where and how knowledge graphs are impacting workflows today. This episode is part of our AI is Here series sponsored by SambaNova Systems. Find out more about sponsored content and how to engage with the Emerj audience at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Chris MacDonald, Head of AI and Analytics at PTC. PTC is a multibillion-dollar software firm focused on the service operations industry, and Chris speaks with us this week about the AI adoption journey for folks in service operations. In this episode, we discuss what it looks like for companies to ensure their customers get as much value out of their products as possible while simultaneously collecting data and learning how to improve future products. Chris highlights the importance of ensuring data quality and working as a team in this process. He also shares some of the unique elements of this particular life cycle of a product that is created and then shipped off and put under someone else’s control but continues to be monitored and improved by the manufacturer. This episode is brought to you by PTC. To discover more service-related insights from Chris, tune in to PTC's Speaking of Service podcast. For more information about Emerj Media and sponsored content opportunities, visit emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Kai Schrimpf, Global Head of Transaction Monitoring at UBS. UBS is a financial services organization doing more than $35 billion in annual revenue based in Zurich and Basel, Switzerland. In this episode, we dive into compliance in the banking and financial services space. There are three distinct topic areas in today’s episode. First, Kai provides a big-picture perspective on the state of compliance in banking and financial services today and current workflows that could be leveled up. Secondly, he discusses specific use-cases and describes areas where he sees data ‘wake up’ in terms of its value for keeping firms in line with regulatory standards. Lastly, Kai shares some business advice for enterprise leaders and speaks about what business leaders should know before adopting artificial intelligence in a financial services organization. This episode is part of a series sponsored by Smarsh. In this series, we’re focusing on bringing on global experts in compliance to get varied perspectives on where AI and data are adding value today.
Today’s guest is Neil Sahota, CEO of ACSI Labs and Chief Innovation Officer at the UC Irvine School of Law. Neil previously worked with IBM for 12 years as a Master Inventor focused on developing new patents with a particular emphasis on big data and analytics. In this episode, we are focused on the legal space. In the first part of this episode, Neil dives into specific use-cases that highlight where AI is impacting law today. He discusses several applications that lawyers, law firms, and legal departments at large enterprises use today with high traction. In the second part of this episode, Neil shares his perspective of the areas in the legal world that he believes are most likely to be disrupted by AI in the next five years. Regardless of industry, Neil provides critical insights about what the future might hold for certain kinds of processes and workflows that are most likely to be automated.
In this episode, we’re focusing on compliance considerations in the insurance world. Our guest this week is Pardeep Bassi. He is currently Global Proposition Leader of Data Science for WTW, or Willis Towers Watson, a publicly traded financial services firm based in the United Kingdom. This week Pardeep covers two different topics with us. First, he discusses some areas where regulation intersects with AI applications in insurance and what the potential data risks for elements such as transparency, personal data use, etc., are. Secondly, Pardeep dives into how leaders might consider these regulatory rules in their adoption strategy. Not only to meet regulatory compliance rules but also to potentially use AI to address them. This episode is brought to you by Smarsh and is part of a broader series on AI applications for compliance and communications intelligence. To learn more about how to reach Emerj’s global executive audience with Emerj Media, visit emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Marshall Choy, Senior Vice President of Product at SambaNova Systems. This episode is part of our AI is Here series, where we’ve talked about the current impact of AI across industries with practitioners and leaders across the United States and Europe. In this episode, we’re focusing on AI adoption trends and what successful AI adopters are doing that others aren’t. Marshall discusses the trends he’s noticed in enterprises adopting AI well from a team perspective, a technology perspective, and a decision-making perspective. He also speaks about some of the differences between the American and European AI ecosystems and what European business leaders may potentially want to consider. This episode is brought to you by SambaNova Systems. To learn more about the AI is Here initiative and to learn more about how you might reach Emerj’s global audience, visit emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Aakash Indurkhya, Co-Head of AI at Virtualitics. Virtualitics is a venture-backed firm based in Pasadena, California. In this episode, we discuss what it means to explore our data and identify where the gaps in our data quality or potentially the gaps in essential data fields are. Aakash speaks to us this week about not only what exploration, that is to say, why it’s valuable conceptually – when dealing with tremendous volumes of data, what does exploration accomplish, and where specifically, better exploration can lead to better results? He dives into two specific use-cases, one in drug development and one in retail. While these are vastly different worlds, these use-cases focus on exploring data well to train an AI model and deliver the desired results in the enterprise. Aakash provides an excellent conceptual overview from a C-suite vantage point of the role. Virtualitics sponsor this episode. To learn more about reaching Emerj’s global executive audience and sponsored opportunities, visit emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Mark Russinovich, CTO of Microsoft Azure. In this episode, we focus on large language models, and Mark speaks with us about two distinct topics. First, he discusses actual, in-the-field applications of large language models today. Mark goes over several of them, but one use-case with Carmax is particularly useful for natural language generation in an enterprise use-case. Secondly, Mark talks about what he would recommend for enterprise leaders who would like to look at their own business and identify where they can apply the value of large language models within their enterprise and the particular workflows that might be optimal for LLMs. This episode is sponsored by Kisaco Research. This year, the Kisaco Research AI Hardware Summit takes place from September 13th through September 15th at the Santa Clara Marriott in California. Mark is among many distinguished speakers, including infrastructure and AI leaders at Meta, Wells Fargo, Salesforce, and more.
Today’s guest is Brandon Carl, EVP of Product Strategy at Smarsh. Smarsh is a substantial player in the compliance domain in financial services, and in this episode, we’re focusing on AI applications in compliance for the industry. Brandon discusses three critical points in this interview. First, he discusses what kind of communications data may serve as financial crime signals or, in other words, what varieties of communications data we should pay attention to. The second point Brandon focuses on is how we can use that data to unlock value and detect financial crime with AI. Lastly, he speaks about how leaders can find the low-hanging fruit in their own communications data. This episode is the first of a sponsored series here on The AI in Business Podcast by Smarsh. Be sure to tune in on Thursdays to gain more insights about compliance and communications intelligence with new episodes of this series.
Our guest today is Richard Schak, Senior Technical Account Manager, and Fraud Product Strategy Consultant at Datavisor. In this week’s episode, Richard discusses two key topics: how payment processing fraud is detected with AI and what these workflows look like before and after AI is applied. Richard also shares a specific perspective about where data and algorithms fit into the mix and emphasizes the importance of “lighthouse projects,” or the early projects that can be used to prove potential ROI to get leadership to approve larger projects and enable enterprises to level up fraud detection as a capability. This episode is brought to you by Datavisor. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today we are focusing on the domain of data collection and quality. Our guest is Christian Rozsenich, Managing Director of Clickworker. In this episode, we talk about a few topics broadly applicable to any industry. The first is the general challenges and importance of data quality and data harmony for AI projects. Christian details the kinds of issues enterprises are running up against and how they can diagnose their own data needs. The next topic we highlight is real-world use-cases of computer vision and computer voice. Christian explains how data is collected and processed for crowdsourcing applications and more. This episode is sponsored by Clickworker. To learn more about Emerj Media and how to reach our global executive audience, be sure to visit emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Caroline Gorski, Chief Executive Officer for R2 Factory at Rolls-Royce. As the world’s second-largest aircraft engine maker, Rolls-Royce makes all kinds of large and heavy machinery that require numerous parts. In today’s episode, we explore the questions of how to source those necessary parts and leverage AI to achieve greater transparency in our supply chain. Caroline discusses where AI is making a dent in the industry today. She also provides a glimpse into the future with her perspectives on how companies will deal with supplies and how outside data sources might affect the supply chain and, consequently, estimated arrival dates for various parts from vendors around the world. This episode is part of our AI is Here series sponsored by SambaNova Systems. Find out more about sponsored content and how to engage with the Emerj audience at emerj.com/ad1.
Today, we’re diving into AI and its applications in the energy sector. Our guest is Andrey Konchenko, Senior Product Manager at DroneDeploy. Andrey previously spent fifteen years at Schlumberger, a gigantic firm with 100k+ employees in the energy sector, and he now works on drones, robotics, and computer vision at DroneDeploy. We discuss three main topics in today’s episode. First, what has made artificial intelligence relevant for business leaders in the energy sector now? Second, we explore individual use-cases for ground robotics, flying robotics, and some novel computer vision applications. Lastly, Andrey provides adoption advice for leaders who are considering this technology in the energy space. This episode is brought to you by DroneDeploy. To learn more about reaching Emerj’s global audience, visit emerj.com/ad1.
In this week’s episode, we’re discussing a topic that applies across industries for AI projects: where is the data coming from? Our guest is Dora Boussias, Senior Director for Data Strategy and Architecture at Stryker. Stryker is a $17B per year company in the medical device space. She discusses the process of building out a data strategy with a key emphasis on the right questions to ask, such as: how can we organize and focus our vision and efforts to be able to unlock the data that’s likely to be the most valuable for today’s projects and for the future of AI projects as well? The opinions in this episode are the guest's personal opinions and do not represent Stryker's opinions in any way. If you’re interested in accessing Emerj’s best practices and frameworks for AI ROI, AI strategy for building AI roadmaps, and our full library of AI use-cases, you can learn more at emerj.com/p1.
This is another episode in our AI is Here series. We’ve covered all sorts of industries in this recent series, from financial services to oil and gas, but we’ve yet to touch on defense. Our guest today is Jared Dunnmon. Jared is a Ph.D. from Stanford in Artificial Intelligence and is now the Technical Director of AI and Machine Learning for the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU). In this episode, we explore two key themes: individual use-cases and capabilities that are becoming important and the adoption of AI in the defense industry today. Jared highlights how we can find patterns in data in the world and the must-knows in the enterprise to get AI off the ground. This AI is Here episode is brought to you by SambaNova Systems. To learn more about Emerj Media and how to engage with the Emerj audience, visit emerj.com/ad1.
Today we’re discussing the topic of leveling up software tools with AI capabilities. Our guest is Matt Berseth. Matt is the CIO and one of the co-founders of NLP Logix, an AI services firm. A few weeks ago, Matt joined us to discuss the analogy of pizza vs. lasagna or what it means for AI to go from playing at the surface to become part of a software solution. In this episode, Matt gives examples of this transformation happening in the real world. Matt discusses where existing software solutions have been leveled up in terms of what they can deliver for value to both the end-user and the organization leveraging it in the public and private sectors. This episode is brought to you by NLP Logix. If you’re interested in learning more about reaching Emerj’s global audience, visit emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s episode is the fifth and final part of our series on building an enterprise AI strategy. Our guest is Richard Benjamins, Chief AI & Data Strategist at Telefónica and author of “Data-Driven Company.” Telefónica is a $40B firm and one of the largest in the telco space in the EU. In this episode, Richard emphasizes the importance of how we collect and handle data at an enterprise level in a way that enables us to support strategy-building. He also shares his opinion on including ethics and governance as part of the strategy-building process and discusses using smaller projects to construct bigger-picture momentum to finalize a strategy. If your company is getting started with AI, download our free guide, “Beginning with AI: 3 Critical Insights for Non-Technical Executives,” at emerj.com/beg1 to learn more about the practical steps for initial AI adoption.
Today is episode four of five in our series, where we’re focusing on enterprise AI strategy. Our guest today is Adam Bonnifield. Adam is the CEO of Konux, an AI firm based in Germany. One of the key takeaways Adam emphasizes in this episode is that strategy is as much about what you’re not going to do as what you are going to do. He frames the processing of brainstorming about strategy and identifying opportunities in a way that focuses on the things that truly matter. Another critical point Adam makes is the benefit of addressing your enterprise’s existing problems rather than a novel application when it comes to strategy. Adam describes what this looked like within Airbus with lessons that are transferable to any other enterprise. Finally, we discuss the Trinity Model for AI ROI, a tool within Emerj Plus. To learn more about Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI and strategy, visit emerj.com/p1.
Today we dive back into our series on AI strategy and have two more days of episodes coming this week. Today’s guest is Sankar Narayanan, Chief Practice Officer at Fractal. Fractal is a unicorn company working on AI-related projects across industries and is well-known for its work in CPG and several other sectors. In this episode, Sankar explores three critical topics in great depth: finding the correct problems, having a long-term mindset, and building with the user in mind. In particular, being able to consider a less successful project and work backward to create a new process with a much larger likelihood of a user taking it, running with it, and converting it into ROI is one of the most salient points for this interview. He also emphasizes that it’s not about whether the algorithm works or we have the data but whether someone will use it. To access Emerj’s frameworks for ROI, strategy, and more, visit Emerj Plus: emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Anand Mahurkar, CEO and Founder of Findability Sciences. Based in Boston, Findability Sciences has done a lot of work in the ERP space across different sectors. In this episode, Anand discusses some of the challenges of data access and multiple use-cases for how current ERP data can provide predictive value for estimating demand and customizing prices for different products. Anand also unpacks the importance of ERP and where it’s going in the future. This episode is brought to you by Findability Sciences. If you’re interested in learning more about reaching Emerj’s global audience through our podcast, email, and more, visit emerj.com/ad1.
This is episode two of five in our series on AI strategy, and today, our guest is Bret Greenstein, Partner at PwC. Bret has worked at many of the largest consulting companies in the world, and he now leads AI efforts at PwC. This special series focuses on building an enterprise AI strategy to align departments and efforts with striving for a long-term and near-term ROI. One of the main themes Bret discusses in this episode is the importance of executive fluency for assessing and building skills. Brett also gives his perspective on balancing a variety of small, disjointed AI projects distinct from business operations and connecting them so that strategy can come to life. Visit emerj.com/beg1 to learn more about the practical steps for AI deployment for non-technical professionals.
This week we are diving into the topic of AI strategy with a new series devoted to exploring how to build an enterprise-wide AI strategy and align company efforts to optimize long-term ROI while still seeing an immediate return with leaders at top companies. To start the series, we welcome back David Carmona. David is the General Manager for Artificial Intelligence and Innovation at Microsoft. In this episode, David speaks about how Microsoft didn’t get its AI strategy quite right initially and what they learned from their approach. The critical takeaway he shares is educating leadership to bring everyone to a level of solid conceptual understanding of AI. He explains how this educational element became a crucial underpinning for how they turned things around and built a strategy that can help inform where they are going as a company. If you’re interested in unlocking our AI best practice guides, frameworks for AI ROI, and more resources, visit emerj.com/p1.
This is another episode in our AI is Here series, and today, we’re focusing on AI in the hospital setting. In this episode, we discuss patient data and being able to guide a patient’s treatment journey with artificial intelligence. Our guest is Dr. Kostas Papagiannopoulos. Kostas is an Honorary Senior Lecturer at Leeds University and serves as Thoracic Surgeon for Leeds Teaching Hospitals. He is also a Medical Advisor to several substantial medical device companies and, until recently, was President of the European Society for Thoracic Surgeons. In today’s episode, Kostas discusses where he’s seeing AI make its way into the hospital setting and some of the critical barriers to adoption, and how leaders should overcome them. This series is brought you to by SambaNova Systems. SambaNova believes that AI is here, and we’ve partnered with them to bring you leading experts across industries to discuss where AI is making an impact today.
In this episode, we’re focusing on the theme of artificial intelligence in the manufacturing industry. Today’s guest is Scott Everett, CEO and Co-Founder at Eigen Innovations Inc. Scott discusses a variety of use-cases and ends this episode with some critical insights for our listeners working in the manufacturing space and some key adoption lessons that are transferable across industries for our listeners working in other sectors. This episode is sponsored by AI Partnerships Corp (AIP). AIP represents a network of 125 companies in AI and emerging technologies and serves as a matchmaker between buyers and sellers in the space. To learn more about AIP, stay tuned until the end of this episode. If you’d like to learn more about Emerj Media and how to reach our global executive audience, visit emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Nick Pilkington, CTO of DroneDeploy. We’re focusing on clean energy in this episode, and Nick walks us through how artificial intelligence is becoming more relevant in the renewable energy sector. He goes in-depth about where drones and AI serve to improve processes and safety for residential solar and EV charging companies. In the past five years, there’s been a lot of change in the energy sector, and Nick provides his perspective on where the future is taking us, including what kinds of new capabilities drones and machine learning can bring to bear. This episode is brought to you by DroneDeploy. To learn more about Emerj Media and how to reach our global executive audience, visit emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Peter Tu, Chief Scientist for Artificial Intelligence at GE Global Research. In this episode, Peter provides a full-circle perspective on how data can inform maintenance processes and optimize specific outcomes. He also discusses some of the challenges in bringing these applications to life and some of the obstacles that GE has had to overcome. Peter speaks about these challenges as transferable lessons across different elements of heavy industry that have really made AI start to come to life. This episode is part of our special AI is Here brought to you by SambaNova Systems. SambaNova believes that AI is here, and we’ve partnered with them to bring you leading experts in varied industries and discuss where AI is hitting the ground running today.
Today’s guest is Emmanuel Walckenaer, CEO of YSEOP. In this episode, we discuss two core questions: first, how are enterprise leaders measuring the success of AI programs that are being used to augment human productivity? The second question is about where humans fit in the loop. In other words, why are humans still critical for certain kinds of workflows and decision-making processes? Emmanuel discusses the concepts of accountability and transparency and how those themes fit into humans’ role as orchestrators of AI in the enterprise. He also gives his perspective on where he sees augmentation happen in the life sciences space while discussing several of YSEOP’s use-cases applicable in other industries. Our sponsor of today’s episode is YSEOP. If you’re interested in reaching Emerj’s global audience, be sure to visit emerj.com/ad1.
Today, our guest is Brett Beranek, VP and General Manager for Security and Biometrics at Nuance Communications. For an AI company, Nuance is relatively large. Microsoft recently bought the company for $19.7B, and they serve a variety of industries. Our topic today is the importance of subject-matter experts. Brett provides essential insights regardless of your industry because subject-matter experts play an important role in AI adoption. Within Emerj Plus, we have a long executive guide on the importance of subject-matter experts, and this interview will provide a lot of richness and depth on top of that from first-hand experience. If you’re interested in learning more about Emerj Plus and how to unlock our AI best practice guides, frameworks for AI ROI, and specific resources for enterprise leaders, visit emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Matt Berseth, Co-Founder and CIO of NLP Logix. NLP Logix is a fast-growing AI services firm based in Florida that serves both the public and private sectors. In this episode, we’re exploring the transition from light involvement in data and data science to much more deep participation, where there are a lot of transferable lessons in adoption ideas. We also discuss the lasagna vs. pizza analogy from an excellent past interview. Matt describes how we can take the data leveraged by that product and use it to help the users save time, give them more convenience, or open up more capabilities. He also articulates the gradual process of working at the surface level, learning lessons, and rebuilding some of the core components of a product. This episode is brought to you by NLP Logix. To learn more about Emerj Media and how we help AI services firms reach a global audience, be sure to visit emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s episode is part of our ongoing AI Success Factors series, where we cover one enterprise AI use-case with a measurable ROI and discuss what made it successful every Monday. Today, we’re going to explore the topic of maintaining railways. Our guest this week is Adam Bonnifield, CEO of Konux. Konux applies its AI technology to the rail space, and in this episode, Adam shares his perspective on a unique use-case between Konux and Network Rail, a large railway firm in the United Kingdom. Adam walks us through why achieving ground truth data was so critical for this project and what it looked like to work together with Network Rail to make those key distinctions in terms of computer vision and imagery that would define the success of the project. Discover more AI use-cases, best practice guides, white papers, frameworks, and more at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Ed d’Archimbaud, Co-Founder and CTO of Kili Technology, based in Paris, France. He has previously worked with large financial institutions such as BNP Paribas, which he speaks about in this episode. We focus on two main topics in this episode: first, we discuss some paperwork-heavy workflows tied to compliance and how AI can provide a solution. The second main topic is data-centric AI and what it looks like to put it into action. Towards the end of this episode, Ed shares how he believes subject-matter experts will be critical to the future of democratizing the technology and winning long-term adoption in the financial services industry and elsewhere. This episode is brought to you by Kili Technology. If you’d like to learn more about reaching Emerj’s global executive audience, visit emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Michael Berger, Head of Insure AI at Munich Re. In this episode, Michael brings to bear his perspective as someone with technical experience in the industry and as the leader of Insure AI at one of the world’s largest insurance firms. Michael provides a sense of the risks inherent to large AI deployments, from legal risks to physical threats and more. He also discusses how monitoring and pricing risk from an insurance policy standpoint can be updated and act almost as a living document based on the adopting and changing application itself. If you’d like to discover more financial services use-cases, be sure to subscribe to our other show, The AI in Financial Services Podcast, on your preferred podcast platform and find more use-cases on topics such as banking, insurance, wealth management, and much more.
Today in our latest AI Success Factors series episode, we are focusing on the world of heavy industry while highlighting lessons that can be applied any and everywhere. Our guest this week and Chris Joynt, AIoT Co-innovation Leader for the Solutions Group at PTC. PTC is a software firm based in the Boston area. In this episode, Chris discusses what it takes to measure ROI across several different dimensions. He also emphasizes the importance of feature engineering, what it is from a conceptual point of view, and how to use subject-matter experts to handle feature engineering and bring out elements of the data that can support enterprise leaders in their decisions. This episode is sponsored by PTC. If you’d like to learn more about reaching Emerj’s global executive audience through our podcasts, newsletters, and more, visit emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Stefan Boronea, Co-Founder and CTO of Proportunity. Based in London, Proportunity is a company that has raised over $170M. In this episode, we dive into the topic of where machine learning can add value in terms of accurately predicting the price of homes both now and in the future. Stefan highlights the kind of data and features that are important to understand the price of a home in the present and the future. Another critical idea he shares is about the future of the market when both buyers and sellers have access to vastly more accurate data on estimating and forecasting prices. He discusses these ideas from the standpoint of buying and selling houses and gives a perspective on how they may impact larger assets. If you’re interested in unlocking our AI best practice guides, frameworks for AI ROI, and specific resources for enterprise leaders, visit emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Pamela Negosanti, the Head of Sector Strategies for Financial Services at Expert.AI. In today’s episode, Pamela speaks to us about the policy review process for cyber insurance. There are two main stand-out points: first, how a new technology shift and further regulation make AI almost a requirement for a particular business workflow, and second, some concrete workflow advice for applying artificial intelligence to contracts and text documents. There’s an evident business value here and a very clear before and after picture of where AI helps to augment the expertise of human experts who are doing policy reviews. This episode is brought to you by Expert.AI. If you’re interested in reaching Emerj’s global executive audience through sponsored podcasts, content, co-branded research, and more, visit emerj.com/ad1 to learn more about Emerj’s Media Services for enterprise AI vendors.
Today’s guest is Roey Mechrez, CEO and Co-Founder of BeyondMinds. BeyondMinds is an AI company based in London. Recorded live in London, this episode highlights the topic of data-centric AI. Roey provides a clear definition of this concept and discusses what it implies for the future of enterprise AI projects. He also speaks about the specific ideas that non-technical business leaders need to understand to identify suitable projects and manage them to achieve a return on investment. Roey is also a valued Emerj Plus member. If you’re interested in unlocking our AI best practice guides, frameworks for AI ROI, and specific resources for AI consultants, visit emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Amaresh Tripathy, Senior Vice President and Global Business Lead for Analytics at Genpact. Genpact has some 80,000 employees, and Amaresh leads a global team of nearly 8,000 analytics experts covering everything from data engineering, machine learning, data insights, and more. This episode focuses on data fabrics and what separates the idea of a data fabric from a data lake, and how enterprise leaders can make sure that this fabric translates immediately to use-cases that add value with near-term ROI and building long-term capability. Amaresh also clarifies the concept of data fabric and ties it to use-cases applicable in business with real examples from some of Genpact’s clients. Join Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1 to discover more AI use-cases, best practice guides, whitepapers, frameworks, and more.
Today’s guest is Ash Fontana, Special Advisor at Zetta Venture Partners based in the Bay Area. After recently publishing his book, “The AI-First Company,” Ash joins us again on the show to discuss some of the core transferable lessons he’s learned. Our topic for this episode is advantage. Ash discusses a way of thinking about building momentum around data and gaining long-term advantage as a result. This episode is one of two episodes Ash recently recorded with us. If you enjoyed today’s episode, be sure to tune in to his second episode on The AI Consulting Podcast to gain insight on how services companies can turn into AI product companies.
Today is episode five out of five of this week’s special series on Achieving ROI with Early AI Projects. We’ve heard from leaders from Intel, Oracle, and other big names, and today, we’re wrapping this series up with someone from the startup world. Our guest is Nikunj Mehta, Founder and CEO of Falkonry. Falkonry is an AI services business focused on heavy industry and manufacturing based in the Bay Area. In this episode, Nikunj describes a portfolio approach to find several related AI projects and capabilities that are likely to turn into a win. He also discusses why an enterprise’s most important objectives are not always the best fit for early AI projects. Stay tuned until the end of this episode to learn about the AI ROI reports that we’re making available for a limited period.
Today’s episode is part four out of five in our Achieving ROI with Early AI Projects series. This week, we have published one episode per day, starting with the Head of the AI Centre of Excellence for Intel. Today, we’re bringing it down to more of a consultancy and vendor perspective from someone who has worked with some of the largest enterprises in the world. Our guest is Dr. Charles Martin, a Silicon Valley AI Consultant with hands-on machine learning experience with organizations like Ebay, BlackRock, and more. In this episode, Charles discusses the concept of data quality mismatch, which can serve as a useful diagnostic tool for estimating what kinds of tasks it will be best suited for. He also speaks about picking projects where you have the data assets to achieve ROI. Be sure to visit emerj.com/p1 to access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI, and strategy.
Today is the third episode of this five-part series being published every day this week on achieving ROI with early AI projects. We’ve heard from the Head of the AI Center of Excellence at Intel and the Head of Insure AI at Munich Re, and today, we speak with the VP of Engineering for Oracle’s Digital Assistant, Raefer Gabriel. Raefer was a previous guest on the show, and he’s also worked on Amazon, including their Alexa platform, and had a startup before then. In this episode, we speak from his perspective on how we can achieve that early AI ROI. He also details how you can diagnose the data assets required to meet a specific goal to determine if your data would be a good fit and start with more modest projects on the crawl, walk, run scale. Be sure to tune in to the rest of the series to gain valuable insights and advice from enterprise leaders on achieving ROI with early AI projects.
This is the second episode of our five-part series on achieving ROI, with early AI projects taking place this week. This series brings together great perspectives from various leaders around advice that can help us bypass typical mishaps to achieve AI ROI. Today’s guest is Michael Berger, Head of Insure AI at Munich Re. Munich Re is a $60B insurance giant heavily invested in cyber insurance and AI insurance. This episode focuses on risk and, more specifically, what kinds of questions we can ask upfront to screen for risk. Michael also provides advice for enterprise leaders in various industries to make smarter decisions regarding risk. During this special series week, we are giving away some of our AI ROI reports here at Emerj. Be sure to tune in until the end of this episode to learn more about these offers for our listeners and subscribers.
Today’s guest is Emmanuel Walckenaer, CEO of YSEOP. YSEOP is a natural language generation AI vendor serving life sciences and drug development. In today’s episode, Emmanuel speaks about speeding up the drug development process through the lens of the life sciences industry being in extreme flux and what happens when a new normal is achieved and how companies have to scramble to keep up with it. Emmanuel also talks about the expansion of AI projects and capabilities in the enterprise. Today’s episode is brought to you by YSEOP. If you’re an AI vendor looking to reach a global enterprise audience, you can learn more about how we work with vendors from sponsored podcasts, articles, co-branded research, lead generation, and more at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Daniele Cordioli, Head of Solutions Consulting for EMEA at Expert.ai. In this episode, Daniele discusses what contract analytics means and the concrete use-cases we can get from it. There are two big transferable lessons that Daniele highlights in this interview. The first lesson is determining the low-hanging fruit cases where AI can save money and reduce risk when dealing with your volume of contracts. Second, the proper method to establish where the business value lies in your own business. This episode is sponsored by expert.ai. If you’re interested in reaching Emerj’s global AI-focused executive audience through podcasts, emails, sponsored content, and more, you can contact us at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Carlos Escapa, AI Global Business Development Manager at Meta (formerly Facebook), and in this episode, we explore what business leaders need to know about open source. Carlos clarifies what open source is and what is relevant for enterprise leaders, and the kinds of situations in which open source tools might be more suitable. He also discusses where leveling up and retaining talent crosses over with open source. Be sure to join Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1 to unlock our entire library of AI use-cases, best practice guides, white papers, frameworks, and more.
This week’s guest is Peter Tu, Chief Scientist for Artificial Intelligence at GE Global Research. Peter joins us to discuss the transition from the previous era of AI into the current “third wave” of AI in a way that will make sense for business people. He also shares insight on what it’ll take for AI to make the leap to contextual adaptation and what this might mean for business leaders in terms of how it could affect their current processes. If you’re interested in discovering AI trends and being able to identify AI use-cases and trends in your industry, be sure to stay tuned until the end of this episode to learn more about Emerj’s tools designed for business leaders and how to access them to discover more AI opportunities and maximize AI ROI.
This week’s guest is Rajkumar Bondugula, Fellow and Luminary Scientist at Verizon. Rajkumar holds a Ph.D. in Machine Learning and was previously the Principal Data Scientist at Equifax. In this episode, Rajkumar clarifies some of the critical differences between business intelligence, analytics, and data science. He also discusses how these concepts build upon one another and help businesses level up their services. If you’re interested in more insights on building AI maturity, building proper data science teams, being able to identify high-value AI projects and move them forward, be sure to check out Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1 to unlock our AI best-practice guides, whitepapers, and entire AI use-case library.
Our guest this week is Stacey Shulman, Vice President Internet of Things Group / GM Health, Life Sciences and Emerging Technologies at Intel Corporation. In this episode, Stacey discusses where she sees AI make its way into healthcare now, how Covid has affected how adoption has been prioritized, and its consequences in the future. Stacey’s insights about how healthcare is evolving are correlated to how other enterprises are also adjusting their strategies or potentially should be in the setting of the ongoing pandemic. If you’re interested in unlocking our AI best practice guides, frameworks for AI ROI, and specific resources for AI consultants, visit emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Anand Mahurkar, Founder and CEO of Findability Sciences. With about 100 employees worldwide, Findability operates in a variety of industries, including manufacturing. In this episode, Anand provides an in-depth overview of the workflows that are impacted in predicting inventory and resource use in manufacturing. He also discusses what it looks like to determine the data sources you’re going to use and influence the workflows you will use to make more informed forecasting decisions. This episode is sponsored by Findability Sciences. If you’re interested in finding more high ROI use-cases in your sector, be sure to download our free PDF brief, “3 Ways to Detect AI Trends in Any Sector,” at emerj.com/t3.
Today’s guest is Bob Gaines, Managing Director of Business Development at SambaNova Systems, a firm based in the Bay Area that has raised $1B to date. Bob has worked in financial services and technology with companies like IBM, Cray Supercomputing, Deephaven Data Labs. In this episode, he brings his perspective on how this technology has evolved regarding AI’s impact in finance and where it’s going. He also discusses how AI is being used not just to look at the individual entities exchanging funds but also to look at the behavior of the entities around them and the entities they do business with. This episode is sponsored by SambaNova Systems. Visit emerj.com/ad1 to learn more about reaching our global audience.
Our guest this week is Dr. Seth Dobrin, the Global Chief AI Officer at IBM, one of the biggest names in artificial intelligence. In this episode, Seth returns to the podcast to speak about AI governance in terms of enabling innovation and driving better results for enterprises. He also discusses the right way to structure and think about AI governance to allow for efficiency and higher quality products. This episode is sponsored by IBM. If you’re interested in reaching Emerj’s business audience, be sure to visit emerj.com/ad1 to learn more about our media services.
Today’s guest is Remi Duquette, Vice President of Innovation and Industrial AI at Maya HTT. Maya HTT is an engineering and industrial AI services firm that Remi’s been with for twenty years. Remi draws on his hands-on experience to discuss the challenges and opportunities of improving productivity with AI in manufacturing. Today’s episode focuses on the question of where artificial intelligence can be implemented into existing workflows to improve output. This episode is sponsored by Maya HTT. If you’re interested in reaching Emerj’s global enterprise audience, check out emerj.com/ad1 to learn more.
This week’s guest is Gregory Diamos, Machine Learning Systems Engineering at Landing AI. Run by one of the most prominent names in the business AI world, Andrew Ng, Landing AI has raised over $50M to date. Before Andrew founded Landing AI, he and Gregory worked together in the Baidu Silicon Valley Research Lab. In today’s episode, Gregory discusses a broad set of AI use-cases in agriculture that he thinks are going to make the most significant impact in the years ahead. If you’re interested in unlocking our AI best practice guides, frameworks for AI ROI, and specific resources for AI consultants, visit emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Joe Bradley, Chief Scientist, SVP Data Science & ML at LivePerson. Joe was previously the Senior Director for Data and Personalization Science at Nike before joining the team at LivePerson. In this episode, Joe breaks down how LivePerson approaches the conversational interface dynamic with their customers. Joe also discusses some of the challenges in getting to a genuinely conversational level and what’s possible today. If you’re interested in more NLP use-cases or want to learn more about chatbots or search-and-discovery, be sure to download our free PDF brief “The Executive Guide to NLP” at emerj.com/nlp1.
Today’s guest is Bhaskar Deka, Global Head of Product Management and AI at EdCast. Based in the Bay Area, EdCast has raised over $100M and has more than 400 employees to date. This episode focuses on onboarding new employees and what it looks like to upscale, train, and get new team members up to speed with machine learning to help make our teams more effective. Bhaskar also discusses his genuine take on the issues and concerns surrounding AI ethics and governance. If you’re interested in unlocking our AI best practice guides, frameworks for AI ROI, and specific resources for AI consultants, visit emerj.com/p1.
Our guest this week is Joseph Berti, VP of AI Applications at IBM. In this episode, Joseph discusses the current capabilities of AI and IoT, highlighting specific use-cases where he’s seen value delivered in the industry. He also talks about where this technology combination takes us and what leaders should be aware of future trends. If you’re interested in gaining support, competitive intelligence, or a deeper understanding of the vendor ecosystem with a current AI initiative, visit emerj.com/aiol to learn more about our enterprise-level research or AI Opportunity Landscape.
Our guest this week is Ramprakash Ramamoorthy, Director of AI Research at Zoho Corporation. Based near the Bay Area, Zoho is a firm with over $600M in annual revenue that offers various software products, including CRM, business intelligence solutions, and other products included in their proprietary suite. In this episode, Ramprakash walks through the team-building process and how to locate business areas where AI can add value. He discusses considerations such as the kind of talent, collaboration, and strategic thinking required to level up an existing suite of products with AI. If you've benefited from the insights in this episode, please consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts.
This week’s guest is Everton Paulino, Business Development Executive of Automotive & Manufacturing at SambaNova Systems. SambaNova Systems has raised approximately $1B to bring their hardware and software solutions to market. In this episode, he brings experience to bear and discusses three unique use-cases for where AI might make a difference in the future of manufacturing. This episode is brought to you by SambaNova Systems. If you’re interested in reaching Emerj’s global executive audience through our podcasts, newsletter, website, or more, visit emerj.com/ad1 to download our media kit and learn more about our sponsored content guidelines and offerings.
Today’s guest is Faustino Gomez, CEO, and Co-Founder of NNAISENSE. NNAISENSE is a firm focused on developing AI solutions for the physical world, and we spoke with their other Co-Founder, Jürgen Schmidhuber, about two years ago. If you’re interested in listening to Jürgen’s episode, you can find it on Apple Podcasts or Soundcloud. In today’s episode, Faustino discusses one particular use-case that NNAISENSE is focused on in additive manufacturing. Faustino has a Ph.D. in artificial intelligence and was a senior researcher for over ten years at the IDSIA, a well-known artificial intelligence lab in Lugano, Switzerland. To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI and strategy, visit emerj.com/p1.
Our guest this week is Sanjay Deshmukh, Executive Vice President of Findability Sciences. Findability is a SoftBank-backed firm here in the Boston area with about 100 employees around the world. In this episode, he discusses how Findability is applying artificial intelligence in the world of collections. He also talks about the personalization of messaging, optimizing the use of call center agents, and categorization. This episode is brought to you by Findability Sciences. If you’re a listener here but not yet a subscriber on emerj.com, you can download our free PDF brief called “The AI in Financial Services Cheat Sheet” at emerj.com/fin1.
Today’s guest is Remi Duquette, Vice President of Innovation and Industrial AI at MayaHTT. MayaHTT is a services firm focused on industrial engineering and industrial AI. In this episode, he speaks to his direct knowledge of applying AI in the industrial setting with examples from making paper products to food processing. He also discusses what it looks like to use AI for quality improvement, touching on the full gambit of AI transformation, with a specific focus on use-cases with quality as their goal. To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI and strategy, visit Emerj Plus: emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Jeff Mills, Chief Revenue Officer of iMerit Technology. Working in the data labeling and annotation space, iMerit is a company that works with some of the world’s largest autonomous vehicles, big tech, and legacy enterprises. In this episode, Jeff walks through what it looks like to define a business problem, determine the right tools, and bring the project to life. This episode is brought to you by iMerit Technology, and on December 2nd, iMerit will be partnering with TechCrunch to host its DataOps Summit. If you are an AI vendor company interested in reaching Emerj’s executive audience, visit emerj.com/ad1 for more information about our sponsored content offerings.
Today’s guest is Marshall Choy, VP of Product at SambaNova Systems. In this episode, Marshall discusses two different approaches to AI adoption: doing it yourself and leveraging AI platforms. He shares his perspective on the advantages and disadvantages to both and insight on how to decide which approach might best suit your organization. This episode is sponsored by SambaNova Systems. To learn more about reaching our global executive audience through our sponsored content offerings, email list, website, and more, visit emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Daniel Hernandez, General Manager of Data and AI for IBM. In this episode, we discuss the topic of the access and governance of data. Daniel discusses the concept of a data fabric and what it means from a technology-agnostic standpoint, and how IBM is deploying this approach with their clients. He also shares some of the specific use-cases that IBM is using to bring this approach to life. This episode is sponsored by IBM and is the second in a three-part series focusing on data, data strategy, and data governance. If you’re interested in reaching Emerj’s global executive audience yourself, be sure to visit emerj.com/ad1 to learn more about our sponsored content offerings.
Today's guest is Martin Ford, futurist and New York Times best-selling author of the 2015 book “Rise of the Robots.” Martin’s most recent book, “Rule of the Robots,” highlights where artificial intelligence is likely to impact day-to-day life, business, and society in the coming future. In this episode, Martin discusses some of the meta trends he believes are most important for business leaders regarding how AI could shift business by allowing for new advantages, efficiencies, and more. If you’re interested in finding AI trends in your specific industry or sector, be sure to download our PDF brief called “3 Ways to Discover AI Trends in Your Industry” at emerj.com/t3.
Today’s guest is TJ Shembekar, Director of IT for IBM Global Financing. TJ has been with IBM for over 15 years and has gone through the entire journey of bringing AI to life in the Financing wing of IBM, from aggregating data sources to collaborating with his peers to find the best capabilities for AI. In this episode, TJ discusses some of the exact use-cases that IBM Financing is putting in place today and the process of setting up a data strategy. This episode is sponsored by IBM and is the first part of a three-part series that we’ll be rolling out in the next two months. If you’re interested in reaching Emerj’s global audience of AI-focused leaders, be sure to visit emerj.com/ad1 for more information.
This is the final episode in our five-part series on AI culture change in the enterprise. Every day this week, we have published an episode covering this topic with guests from Facebook, IBM, and other organizations. Today’s guest is Stacey Shulman, Vice President of the Internet of Things Group and GM of Health, Life Sciences, and Emerging Technologies at Intel. In this episode, Stacey discusses how to assess artificial intelligence maturity and where culture change management impacts AI adoption. If you missed an episode of this series, be sure to check out the unique perspective of our other guests this week on The AI in Business Podcast on all major podcast platforms.
As episode four of five in our series on enterprise culture change for AI adoption, we speak with Nick Elprin, CEO of Domino Data Lab. His company has currently raised nearly a quarter of a billion dollars to bring their ML ops platform to some of the largest enterprises around the world. In this episode, Seth breaks down some of the models for AI maturity that Domino uses when they assess enterprises. Nick also shares his unique perspectives on AI maturity as both the leader of a fast-growing startup and as someone with hands-on experience working with well-established legacy enterprises. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to tune in tomorrow for the final episode in this series. We have heard from some fantastic guests this week, including IBM, Facebook, and SAP leaders.
This is episode three in our series on AI culture change in the enterprise taking place this week through Friday. We will be publishing episodes daily highlighting actionable insights for developing an AI-ready culture within your enterprise from leaders at significant enterprises such as Facebook AI, Intel, and more. Today’s guest is Andreas Welsch, VP and Head of Intelligent Processes at SAP. In this episode, Andreas discusses what SAP has done to adapt and adopt AI internally and share the perspectives of some of their clients. If you’re interested in more insight on changing culture, developing AI strategy, measuring AI ROI, be sure to check out Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
In the second episode of our five-part series on AI culture change, our guest is Carlos Escapa, Global Business Development Manager for Facebook AI. Previously the Global AI and ML Practice Leader for Amazon Web Services, Carlos shares insights from his experience working with many cutting-edge startups who are actively deploying AI. Be sure to tune in to the rest of the series to learn from leaders at Intel, SAP, and many more prominent companies. If you are interested in getting started in your AI journey, be sure to download our free PDF brief, “Beginning with AI: 3 Key Insights for Non-Technical Professionals,” at emerj.com/beg1.
This week's guest is Dr. Seth Dobrin, Chief AI Officer for IBM. As one of the best-known AI companies in the world, IBM has over 300,000 employees. As the first episode in this series on AI culture, Seth provides unique insights, as someone with years of hands-on experience in the industry, on what it takes to shift the culture within a large enterprise. He also talks about what it looks like to build an AI roadmap when adopting AI and creating a plan for the future. Be sure to tune in for the rest of this series taking place this week through Friday here on The AI in Business Podcast. We'll be releasing an episode daily that highlights this topic of AI culture, and we have an exciting lineup of guests from well-known companies such as Facebook, SAP, Intel, and more.
Today’s guest is Gaurav Srivastava, CTO at FarEye. Having recently raised another $100M, FarEye has now raised a total of $150M to bring artificial intelligence to the supply chain. In this episode, Gaurav talks about how end-user impact is what vendors and internal AI leaders need to understand to make a strong business case. Be sure to join us here on The AI in Business Podcast next week, as we will be publishing an episode every day from November 1st through the 5th. We have five notable guests from companies like IBM, Facebook, Intel, and more speaking about the topic of AI culture and how enterprise leaders can encourage an AI culture that will allow AI to take root and genuinely deliver an ROI.
Our guest this week is Joseph Berti, VP of AI Applications at IBM. This week, Joseph discusses high-level trends in how AI is making its way into heavy industry. He also speaks about what the world will look like as more and more physical assets are digitized and how this transformation will impact our world. Before selling to IBM, Joseph was previously the CEO of Oniqua, focusing on predictive maintenance for the oil, gas, and utility space. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to stay tuned for the upcoming series on The AI in Business Podcast. Starting Monday, November 1st, we’ll publish an episode every day through Friday. These episodes will each highlight a topic that is relevant for leaders in any and every industry.
Today’s guest is Bhaskar Roy of Fractal Analytics. Bhaskar previously held high-level analytical roles at Target and Accenture before joining Fractal Analytics and taking on more artificial intelligence projects. In this episode, Bhaskar discusses the conceptual and practical differences between analytics and AI projects for selling AI and delivery. He also talks about the similarities between these two types of projects. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to check out Bhaskar’s interview on The AI Consulting Podcast, where he discusses what it looks like to find the AI fit for clients in more depth. The AI Consulting Podcast is our newest podcast designed specifically for AI advisors, strategists, and consultants and is available on all major podcast platforms.
This week’s guest is Katia Walsh, Ph.D. and Chief Strategy Officer for Levi Strauss & Co. Levi’s is one of the best-known apparel brands in the world at $5.5B in annual revenue. Katia holds an important position in that company after having several roles in financial services, telecommunications, and other sectors. In this episode, Katia speaks about unlocking the value of predictive and what it looks like to combine data, AI, and digital in a way that delivers value. She also discusses some of the lessons she learned in other industries and how they translate into retail transformation. If you're interested in more insights in retail, be sure to download our “AI in Retail” cheat sheet at emerj.com/ret1.
Today’s guest is Emily He, SVP of Human Capital Management at Oracle’s Cloud Business Group. Currently ranked the 80th in the Fortune 100, Oracle is well-known for enterprise software and IT solutions. Emily has also managed the research that Oracle conducts annually on their employees’ impact, expectations, and thoughts on AI within their business. In this episode, Emily brings to bear some of the critical findings of this research. She also discusses the business implications for AI adoption strategies that don’t overwhelm the rest of a company’s teams. Discover more AI use-cases, best practice guides, frameworks, and more by joining Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
This week’s guest is Ramprakash Ramamoorthy, Director of AI Research at Zoho Corporation. Based in the Bay Area, Zoho makes over $600M in annual revenue and offers a variety of software products, including CRM, business intelligence solutions, and more. Today, Ramprakash speaks about his hands-on experience on this topic, detailing the kind of collaboration, talent, and strategic thinking required to level up an existing suite of products with AI. He also discusses how team-building and the construction of an AI team facilitate this process to add value. Visit emerj.com/beg1 to learn more about the practical steps for AI deployment for non-technical professionals.
Today’s guest is Patrick Bangert, VP of Artificial Intelligence at Samsung SDS, the services wing at Samsung. With $200B in annual revenue, Samsung is the 15th largest company in the world according to the Global 500. Today, Patrick discusses the use-cases of AI at the edge in medical imagery and how the healthcare industry may be able to overcome some of these hurdles to allow AI to improve even more quickly into the future. We are grateful to have been introduced to Patrick through Kisaco Research, the sponsor for this episode. Kisaco Research runs the Edge AI Summit every year, and this year it will be held November 16-18th in Mountain View, California, and online, where Patrick will also be speaking.
This week’s guest is Merve Unuvar, Director of AI Platforms and Automation at IBM Research AI. This week’s focus is on the intersection of AI and RPA, which is a technology separate from AI, and how to identify places where efficiencies might be driven. Merve discusses how to evaluate our operations and workflow and spot places where AI might be able to make a real and tangible difference. Merve also speaks about how traditional RPA is beginning to merge with AI and what kinds of new opportunities this could bring. If you’re interested in unlocking Emerj’s AI best practice guides, frameworks for AI ROI, and other specific resources for AI consultants, visit emerj.com/p1.
Our guest this week is Alexandre Le Bouthillier, Co-Founder of Imagia. Imagia is a firm based in Montreal that leverages artificial intelligence for medical analysis. Today, Alexandre discusses personalized medicine before and after artificial intelligence. He also brings to bear his perspectives on how personalized medicine might come to be, cutting through some of the buzzword hype surrounding the term. Alexandre was a guest on the show several years ago, and we’re thankful to have the opportunity to share more of his insights. If you’re interested in unlocking our AI best practice guides, frameworks for AI ROI, and specific resources for AI consultants, visit emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Nikola Mrkšić, CEO and Co-Founder of PolyAI. PolyAI is an AI voice company based in the United Kingdom. Nikola previously appeared on an episode with us to discuss the future of voice AI for the customer experience. Today, Nikola dives into the use-case of appointment-setting with AI for voice. He talks specifically about the technical constraints, AI capabilities, and how to create workflows that add real value to the business. This episode is sponsored by PolyAI. If you run a disruptive AI firm and you’re looking to reach a global audience of AI-interested leaders, be sure to visit emerj.com/ad1 to learn more about Emerj’s Creative Services.
Today’s guest is Bill Fox, Business Development Executive for Healthcare Strategy at SambaNova Systems. Founded in Palo Alto, California, SambaNova offers hardware, software, DataFlow-as-a-Service, and more. Today, Bill speaks about what SambaNova’s team is seeing in terms of near-term future opportunities for computer vision and artificial intelligence. Bill also discusses use-cases relating to diagnostics and health and what the future of healthcare transformation could potentially look like. This episode is sponsored by SambaNova Systems. If you’re interested in reaching Emerj’s global audience via our podcast, newsletter, or website, be sure to visit emerj.com/ad1 for more information.
Today’s guest is Rudina Seseri, Founder and Managing Partner at Glasswing Ventures. Rudina has been a previous guest on The AI in Business Podcast, and today she speaks with us about how AI startups are pivoting their strategy by restructuring their business models and potentially changing who they are selling to in light of COVID-19. Rudina also shares her perspectives on emerging AI trends and how to identify them, which is an essential skill for consultants and vendors. If you’d like to explore one of Emerj’s resources for spotting AI trends and making the most of them in your own business, download our free PDF brief, “3 Ways to Discover AI Trends,” at emerj.com/t3.
Today’s guest is Caroline Gorksi, Group Director at R2 Data Labs of Rolls Royce. Rolls Royce is a well-known company involved in the heavy-industry space based in the United Kingdom. Caroline was a previous guest on the show and spoke about the future of logistics and the supply chain. This week, Caroline discusses the AI safety protocols and frameworks developed by R2 Data Labs and what it looks like to include safety in the product development process to become a factor that both business people and consultants can bear in mind. If you would like to discover more AI use-cases, best practice guides, white papers, frameworks, and more, join Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Susan Schneider, Founding Director at the Center for the Future Mind of Florida Atlantic University, NASA Chair in Astrobiology Exploration and Technical Innovation, and Distinguished Scholar Chair at the Library of Congress. In this week’s episode, Susan discusses the big picture of the future of AI and the brain-computer interface. She also gives examples that help provide a lens into the possibility for post-human trajectory decades into the future of artificial intelligence and more. If you’re interested in unlocking our AI best practice guides, frameworks for AI ROI, and specific resources for AI consultants, visit emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Jim Benton, CEO of Chorus.ai. Sales enablement with AI adoption is an often overlooked business function that few companies are succeeding with, but Chorus.ai does just that. To date, the firm has raised over $100 million with record growth in 2020. Today, Jim discusses the potential future of sales enablement to further improve clients’ performance with AI consistently. If you’re interested in learning more about AI applications and finding where AI can be productive in the industry, be sure to check out Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1. By joining Emerj Plus, you can access our entire library of tools to apply and adopt AI, create an AI strategy, and achieve AI ROI.
Today’s guest is David Brin, renowned fiction author, NASA consultant, and keynote speaker with a Ph.D. from the University of California San Diego. David has received the Hugo, Locus, Campbell, and Nebula awards for his various works of fiction, and his novel, “The Postman,” was adapted into a 1997 feature film starring Kevin Costner. David’s works have explored the topics of strong artificial intelligence, brain-computer interface, upgrading human brains, and more. Today, he speaks about how to govern these powerful technologies, like brain-computer interface and AI. David also shares his ideas about what the next level of human intelligence could look like without an arms race.
Today’s guest is Emmanuel Walckenaer, CEO of YSEOP. A firm based in Paris, YSEOP focuses on natural language generation across financial services and life sciences industries. Emmanuel speaks with us this week about the applications of NLG when it comes to drug discovery and life sciences. Emmanuel also discusses some other life sciences and AI trends that he thinks are promising and some of the trends that he’s seen in his work in the life sciences space. This episode is sponsored by YSEOP. If you’re interested in reaching the Emerj audience, you have an important educational message about use-cases and applications of AI, be sure to contact us at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Dr. Joanna Bryson, Professor of Ethics and Technology at the Hertie School in Berlin. Previously a faculty member of the Computer Science department at the University of Bath, Joanna was one of nine experts nominated by Germany to the Global Partnership for Artificial Intelligence. Today, Joanna speaks about some of the business applications and implications of AI with specific use-cases. She also shares her perspective on how AI could be practically managed in terms of security and privacy and how these technologies might have ramifications in the future. Discover more AI use-cases, best practice guides, white papers, frameworks, and more at emerj.com/p1.
This week’s guest is Ricardo Panaggio, Data Scientist at Daitan. Daitan is ranked by the Financial Times as one of the fastest-growing U.S. companies and now has over 500 employees globally. Panaggio shares his insights on particular use-cases in open banking and external data sources and how these might serve as indicators for the future of AI in Financial Services on this week’s episode sponsored by Daitan. If you’d like to discover more Financial Services use-cases, trends, insights, and more, be sure to subscribe to our AI in Financial Services Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any major podcast platform.
Today’s guest is John Havens, Director for Emerging Technologies and Strategic Development at the IEEE Standards Association, and Executive Director for the Council on Extended Intelligence and the IEEE Global Initiative of Ethics and Autonomous Intelligent Systems. This series focuses on what the AI future might look like and how day-to-day life might be transformed. Today, John discusses the path we’re on when it comes it our technology and personal data and what that might mean for the virtual environments we’ll eventually live and work in. He also shares his ideas on the implications of data and AI as we consider our privacy and security in the years to come. To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI and strategy, visit Emerj Plus: emerj.com/p1.
This week’s guest is Sudhanshu Sawlani, Head of Robotics and Intelligent Automation for ING Wholesale Banking, a large financial services organization with over 70,000 employees worldwide. Sudhanshu is introduced to us by Expert AI, who is this episode’s sponsor. Today, he speaks about a particular NLP use-case that he has implemented across different portions of the business. Sudhanshu also shares details about the process of creating this use-case, like the factors that led to the decision for an AI solution and some of the challenges that arose along the way. To learn more about Emerj’s Creative Services and how to reach the Emerj global audience, visit emerj.com/ad1.
Our guest this week is Cory Janssen, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of AltaML, an AI services firm based in Canada with over 100 employees just four years after its launch. Today Cory shares the lessons learned from his experience working with a small team to find AI opportunities and transform pilot projects into effective AI deployments in the enterprise. He also explains why “land and expand” doesn’t work as a method for this complicated process. Cory also recently joined us on our AI Consulting Podcast to share his origin story and his unlikely path to starting an AI consulting company - listen to the entire interview on all major podcast platforms.
Today’s guest is Dr. Julian Togelius, professor of Computer Science and Engineering at New York University. Julian has a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Essex and is also a Co-Founder of modl.ai, a firm based in Denmark focused on developing AI and ML-based tools to advance game development. Today, Julian shares his ideas about the interesting intersection of gaming and artificial intelligence. He also discusses how the VR and augmented reality environments enhanced by AI might affect or alter our day-to-day lives in both the short- and long-term future. Download our white paper “3 Ways to Discover AI Trends” at emerj.com/t3.
Today’s guest is Jared Dunnmon, Technical Director of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning at the US Defense Innovation Unit (DIU). Jared began working at the DIU after receiving his Ph.D. and completing a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Stanford University. Today he speaks about his career path and the wide range of use-cases present in homeland security and defense. Jared also provides insight into the vast array of AI projects handled by the US Department of Homeland Security and Department of Defense. If you are interested in more great interviews about AI in Defense, check out the rest of this three-part series on AI in Business podcast on all major platforms like Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Today's guest is Bronwyn Williams, partner at Flux Trends, a foresight and advisory firm based in South Africa, and Co-Author of "The Future Starts Now," published in April 2021. Today, Bronwyn shares her perspective on how strong artificial intelligence might impact society in Africa. She also discusses the unique ways technology is being adopted in Africa might mold future trends in the economy and the future of the human experience. If you are interested in more interviews about the future of artificial intelligence across industries, check out the AI Futures Series on AI in Business podcast on all major platforms at emerj.com/podcast.
Today’s guest is Mike Brown, Director of the Defense Innovation Unit for the United States Department of Defense. Mike is someone with an extensive background in business and technology who also has a passion for homeland security and defense innovation. In today’s episode, Mike will talk about the importance of artificial intelligence in the future of defense and what the future of warfare will look like. He will also discuss how the United States military is leveling up its innovation efforts around AI and how they should be making more improvements in the future. Whether you’re in the public or private sector, this is a very helpful episode. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Dr. Robin Hanson, Associate Professor of Economics at George Mason University with a Ph.D. in Social Science from the California Institute of Technology. Dr. Hanson’s first book, “The Age of Em: Work, Love, and Life when Robots Rule the Earth,” was published in 2016 and focused on the concept of emulating human consciousness by scanning the human brain. This series is all about the question of what the future of the human experience is like, and Dr. Hanson shares his eye-opening perspective of this emulation technology alongside strong artificial intelligence and how the two might come together to change the future of work and life. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today we are kicking off a series of episodes about the topic of AI in Defence. Today's guest is Steve Blank, arguable one of the best-known Silicon Valley thinkers alive today, author of the book "The Startup Owner's Manual," and is an adjunct professor at Stanford University, where he teaches about innovation and innovation in modern war. Today Steve speaks to us about how innovation has to operate within the military and what the US Department of Defence might do better to adopt future technologies and evolve more quickly in the face of a competent adversary in the form of China. Steve holds no bar, and his level of honesty is surprising on the matter. For those of you interested in the global dynamics of power, this will be a fascinating episode. For those interested in making big enterprises and organizations evolve and what kind of systems and leaders thinking has to evolve within them, Steve provides some gems that are immediately applicable in any industry. If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today's guest is Nikola Mrkšić, CEO and Co-Founder of PolyAI, a leading supplier of conversational AI for automated customer service, who has raised over $12MM to bring AI to voice in the world of customer experience. Nikola breaks down some of the challenges of voice and some of the low-hanging fruit opportunities when it might be a better fit than chat. This episode is sponsored by PolyAI. If you are interested in reaching Emerj's audience and learn more about our creative services and how brands work with Emerj, our sponsored content options, and our go-to-market services for AI vendors and service provides, you can go to emerj.com/ad1
In the first episode of this 8 part AI Futures series, we look into the Future of the Human Experience. How is AI going to change the way day-to-day life looks and feels for humanity. Our first guest in this series is Stephen Wolfram, founder, and CEO of Wolfram Research. Stephen needs little to no introduction. He was working in quantum field research at the age of 15 and was the youngest recipient of the McArthur fellowship at age 21. This interview is over an hour-long, with Stephen's most profound thoughts on how AI will fundamentally alter our day-to-day lives. Stephen also provides his views on computation, blockchain, and some tangible examples of what the future might look like. If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Pallab Deb, the Head of Partner Solutions & AI Partnerships at Google Cloud. Previously headed up AI division at WePro, one of the world’s most prominent global IT and tech service providers. Pallab Deb will be talking about how Google assesses AI readiness and maturity and discusses their model in place. He also talks about how to apply the model in assessing the AI readiness of a company. If you want to explore AI readiness for your business or client, then it is worth checking out today’s podcast! Pallab Deb is also a guest in our AI Consulting Podcast, which focuses more on starting and growing an AI Consulting company, with insights from figures from large companies to smaller organizations. If you enjoyed this podcast, then you are also welcome to check out our AI Consulting podcast at emerj.com/ai-consulting-podcast
Today's guest is Rudina Seseri, founder and managing partner of Glasswing Ventures, a VC firm in the Boston area focused on AI and startups. This week, she's here to share her insights on what smart data infrastructure represents and how it could shape the future of enterprise AI. Rudina delves deeper into this topic and focuses more precisely on the ecosystem needed to breathe life into AI and bring it ever closer to companies. This hypothesis-oriented interview is probably one of the most exciting so far as we discuss the future of technology with Rudina. If you're an AI consultant and want to drive more value for your customers or a business leader and want to know what AI can do for you, join Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1
Today's guest is Ricardo Panaggio, Data Scientist at Daitan, ranked by the Financial Times as one of the fastest-growing companies in America. Ricardo speaks to us this week about financial services. Expressly, some particular use-cases in open banking and external data sources represent some interesting indicators as to where financial services and AI are headed together. We like to make things tangible and add a variety of perspectives, and the perspective of the services will be interesting for you. This episode is sponsored by Daitan. If you are interested in reaching Emerj's audience and learn more about our creative services and how brands work with Emerj, our sponsored content options and our go-to-market services for AI vendors and service provides, you can go to emerj.com/ad1
Today's guest is Emmanual Walckenaer, CEO of YSEOP, a company based in Paris and focused on Natural Language Generation. Emmanuel speaks to us today about workflows where automating reporting really delivers value, and we talk about two, in particular, one of which is credit risk. Understanding and assessing it, and what does that process look like today? What kind of data and insights are required, and where does AI fit into the mix? And we also look at improving report quality for people that are controllers or analysts. Emmanuel explores how the use cases work and how the underpinning data infrastructure comes together to create a natural language-generated report. This episode is sponsored by YSEOP. If you are interested in reaching Emerj's audience and learn more about our creative services and how brands work with Emerj, you can go to emerj.com/ad1
Today's guest is Michael Biltz, Managing Director of Technology Vision at Accenture. For many years Accenture has come out with their annual technology vision focusing on several trends they think will define the year ahead. Michael speaks to us today about adapting to the new world we have been hurled into with the Coronavirus. How does AI play a role in the near term? What does the future work look like five years out when it is AI-enabled? What are some of the big areas that corporations need to think about? If you are leading or starting a company and want to know what it looks like when we are all working together productively half a decade from now, this is an interview that will be eye-opening for you. And if you are interested in finding more AI trends in whatever industry you operate in, be sure to download our PDF brief "3 Ways to Discover AI Trends in Any Sector" at emerj.com/t3
Today's returning guest is Per Nyberg, Chief Commercial Officer for Stradigi AI. Per spoke to us in the past about the process of getting started with AI, and he talks to us today about the kinds of changes we should see and expect if we do things well, once we do get started, in the experience of our actual employees. How are their lives and productivity going to change? How are our workflows going to change? This episode is sponsored by Stradigi AI. If you are interested in reaching the Emerj audience, whether through thought leadership, e-mail, podcasts, or more, you can go to emerj.com/ad1 to learn more about Emerj creative services.
Today's guest is Adam Oliner, former Head of Machine Learning at Slack and current Founder and CEO of Stealth Mode Startup. Adam speaks to us today about how to find AI opportunities. What is a lens of thinking, the set of steps and phases to uncover the AI fit, and where can we unlock AI value in our business? How can we look through a pair of goggles that will show us where the business needs AI and the data assets can come together and deliver value in the business? Suppose you are interested in best practices for finding AI opportunities, building a strategy, building a roadmap, and conveying the ROI of AI when it comes to making the business case to leadership. In that case, you can learn more and access our entire AI use-case library in Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1
Today's guest is Gaurav Srivastava, CTO and co-founder of FarEye, a low-code, Intelligent Delivery Management Platform for all types of businesses across many industries to facilitate deliveries at reduced cost and improved performance. In today's episode, Gaurav explores the potential for AI in logistics, what it looks like to move towards predictive, and what it looks like to unlock AI in a space known for not being at the screaming edge of technology. The evolution of this sector will mirror the evolution of many other legacy sectors and hopefully will help open up some ideas. If you are thinking about finding AI opportunities and building your strategies, download our FREE PDF Brief on "3 Ways to Discover AI Trends in Any Sector" at emerj.com/t3
Today's guest is Pamela Negosanti, Head of Sector Strategy for Financial Services for expert.ai, a vendor company based in Italy that works worldwide with their various NLP products. Pamela speaks to us today about financial services use cases and delivers lessons on where to find those pockets of value for NLP, and you can apply those lessons almost anywhere. She explains how to think about NLP on a conceptual level as a non-technical business person and talks about finding those pockets of value. If you want to examine your business and think about where search, conversational, or other kinds of NLP applications and use cases might find a home, this is undoubtedly an episode for you. Do you want to stay ahead of the AI and NLP curve? We've created the "Unlocking the Business Value of NLP - Critical Use-Cases and Applications" to give you the edge. Get it now from: emerj.com/nlp1
Today's guest is Christophe Makni, a managing consultant of Lean, AI, and Automation at Basler Kantonalbank. Christophe brings a wealth of knowledge today on the culture required for AI in the enterprise and how we can conjure that culture. How can we encourage an iterative and experimental mindset from our leadership and see the benefit thereof? Are you interested in being part of a community of AI catalysts for business? Check out Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1
Today's guest is Bret Greenstein, SVP and Global Head of AI at Cognizant, one of the top 5 largest tech consulting companies globally, with 2019 revenue at nearly $17B. Bret speaks to us today about forecasting and predictive for critical business metrics and decisions. A big meta trend around AI adoption that he sees takes place across many industries since the Coronavirus. When it comes to businesses going from historical dashboards to more predictive decision-making, there is a general trend and opportunity that is beginning to arise, and Brett does a great job of putting the finger on it. Interested in more of his thoughts? Be sure to check out his other show and subscribe to our new AI Consulting Podcast at: emerj.com/pod2
Today's guest is Brian L. Keith, a research advisor for Emerj AI Research and Federal Azure Data & AI Leader for Microsoft, based in Washington, DC. Brian has spent nearly 21 years as senior director partner for IBM Data and AI, North America, focusing on the federal space. Brian speaks with us today about some of the core challenges to overcome when large companies adopt AI. He brings a perspective through the lens of technical debt and how AI projects build more technical debt than a foundation for AI to blossom and bloom into the future. Brian brings his perspective on how enterprise AI maturity develops how we can build as little technical debt as possible and invest in projects that can deliver ROI and set us up for the future. Suppose you need to frame the ROI case for the enterprise and go to market successfully. In that case, you might want to learn more about our Catalyst program, where we coach AI services and consulting company founders one-to-one and help them start and grow their business and enter the market with success. To learn more, visit: emerj.com/catalyst
Today's guest is Sanjeev Agrawal, President & CEO of LeanTaaS. LeanTaaS raised over a quarter billion dollars to take on AI in healthcare and is working with over 300 hospitals in the US. Sanjeev is an alumnus of MIT and was head of global product marketing for Google back in the earlier 2000s. Sanjeev walks us through the state of technology adoption in the healthcare space in an exciting way and talks about how hospitals can start small by leveraging smaller datasets to improve some of their existing processes. We talk a lot about the back-office operations critical to ensure that healthcare facilities are financially salient and patients treated well. Subscribers can reach out to Sanjeev on LinkedIn to get a PDF copy of his book "Better Healthcare Through Math" for free. Interested in more use cases, best practices for AI adoption, strategy, and ROI? Check out Emerj Plus: emerj.com/p1
Today's guest is Dr. Poornima Parameswaran, Co-founder & Senior Executive at Trace Genomics, a firm that has raised nearly $25M to attack the space of soil science and the value of soil. Today, Dr. Parameswaran explains how AI is being used to extract data from the soil, why that matters for farmers and anyone who cares for the environment, what that might be leading to predicting crop yields, and more effective use of fertilizers and pesticides. Interested in more interesting AI use cases? Subscribe to our newsletter at: emerj.com
Today's guest is Debjani Deb, CEO of ZineOne, an AI-based personalization firm in the Bay Area, who has raised over $15M and has worked with well-known retail brands such as Men's Warehouse. Debjani speaks to us this week about two topics. One, how she sees the retail world reeling and responding, the changes that are happening, and the perspective, boots on the ground, in the retail world post-Covid-19. Second, what is the scale of maturity of personalization, where can companies start, and how should they think about first projects for building recommendations and personalization into their experience. She lays out several potential use cases that companies should apply and rules of thumb for shifting and sorting through them. Are you interested in more use cases for AI in Retail? Download our AI in Retail cheat-sheet PDF guide at: emerj.com/ret1
Today's guest is Monte Zweben. Monte started doing AI with NASA in the late 80s, took a company public for nearly $3B at the height of the internet boom of the late 90s, and is now CEO at Splice Machine. This company offers a scalable SQL data platform for modernizing applications. In this episode, Monte speaks to us about some of the mirrored elements of tech's past transitions into AI and what they mean for how AI will start to become the norm in enterprises. He also applies lessons learned from his previous business transitions into what leaders can do to better prepare for this next wave of AI. Do you want to support this show? Be sure to leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you like about the program! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ai-in-business/id670771965
In today's short episode, we will be covering some of the recent updates to the show. I will cover what we learned in 2020 from our listeners, bring exciting news on what we aim to focus on, and what insights and skills you will pick up from the show in the coming year. I cover the changes coming in terms of frequency and format, and lastly, some of the fantastic episodes we have coming up. Do you want to support this show? Be sure to leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you like about the program! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ai-in-business/id670771965
Today's guest is Caroline Gorsky, Group Director of R2 Data Labs at Rolls Royce. Rolls Royce needs no introduction as it is one of the pioneering providers of cutting-edge technology solutions in automotive, aerospace, and power. This week, Caroline speaks to us about using Natural Language Processing to optimize their massively complex supply chain and get better transparency in their processes. She also talks about where they hope to use this technology to gain a deeper view of their operations. Do you like and want to support our show? Consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ai-in-business/id670771965
Today's guest is Mahmoud Arram, Co-Founder and CTO at Bluecore. Bluecore is a marketing technology company that's reimagining how retailers communicate with shoppers and has raised over $100 million to deliver Artificial Intelligence to enterprises. Mahmoud helps us answer where to target your efforts with AI and how to identify problems that will deliver business results, a real problem versus a toy problem, whether you are building an AI product or thinking about where to apply AI to your own business. Interested in more use cases, infographics and frameworks? Check out Emerj Plus: emerj.com/p1
Today, our returning guest is Per Nyberg, Chief Commercial Officer at Stradigi AI, a leading North American SaaS AI business platform provider that enables organizations to bring business-accelerating AI projects to fruition quickly. We speak this week about what he has seen in the market in terms of AI adoption, what is going well, and the trends and patterns that he has seen across the industry. We will also talk about building AI maturity and AI fluency. Then we wrap things up with the art of starting small, what is essential to bear in mind, the important ways to take action, and how companies can get the ball rolling in a way that will lead to a bigger value. Are you interested in reaching the Emerj audience via our newsletter or podcast? Learn more at emerj.com/ad1
Returning today is one of my favorite guests, the great and brilliant Derek Choy, Co-Founder & COO of Aktana. This Silicon-Valley-based startup has raised $65+ million to empower data-driven insights for Life Sciences sales professionals with its AI-driven platform. In this episode, Derek helps us understand how you make an AI product work when it is a game-changer, and what hurdles and opportunities arise when bringing a new product to market. Are you interested in more use-cases? Download our guide: "Beginning with AI Guide - 3 Key Insights for Non-Technical Professionals" at emerj.com/beg1
Today's guest is the great and brilliant Max Sklar of Foursquare, a technology platform that powers leading business solutions and consumer products through a deep understanding of the location. Max has spent eight years there as a Machine Learning engineer and is currently an Engineering and Innovation Labs Advisor. He speaks to us today about the possibilities and potential of location data and where this data might be handy in businesses in the future. Is this the future of how we predict consumer behavior? Want to learn more? Check out Emerj Plus: emerj.com/p1
Today guest is the great and brilliant Lars Joakim Nilsson, Manager of Advanced Analytics and Big Data for Inmeta, a consulting firm based in Oslo. Inmeta has worked with very large European enterprise firms on Big Data and AI-related projects. Lars speaks to us this week about why AI adoption in Europe is different and brings forth the myriad of cultural and regulatory challenges that might also be relevant for you, no matter where you live. Want to learn more about AI use-cases? Check out Emerj Plus at: emerj.com/p1
Returning today is the great and brilliant Peter Durlach, Senior Vice President of Healthcare Strategy for Nuance Communications, one of the pioneers and leading companies in conversational AI innovations, servicing the Healthcare space with AI products for well over a decade. Today, Peter goes into detail as to how AI can help improve the revenue recovery workflow, which will help you identify similar workflows and processes within your own business that might be influenced by AI. Do you want to support this show? Be sure to leave us a review on Apple Podcasts and let us know what you like about the program! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ai-in-business/id670771965
Returning with us today is the great and brilliant Geoffrey Tate, Co-Founder and CEO of Flex Logix, a leader in AI chip engineering, offering Neural Inferencing Semiconductor IP/Software and eFPGA Semiconductor IP/Software. In this episode, Geoffrey and I speak about when it makes sense to make AI at the edge, and when it makes sense to have Centralized Compute, what are the advantages of both, and what are the instances where AI at the Edge might be the smarter move to play. Want to learn more? Join Emerj Plus at: Check out Emerj Plus: emerj.com/p1
Today the great and brilliant Gilad Turbahn, Senior Director of Product Management at Conga (formerly Apttus). Apttus is a leading quote-to-cash company that will put big enterprises on accounts receivable, and they recently merged with Conga, a global leader in commercial operations transformation. Gilad explains this week what they are working on for conversational interfaces with sales folks. The idea of layering on AI is still the wild west to some degree, there are a plethora of potential exciting use cases, and it will be interesting to see which ones evolve and move forward, but this is one use case that I thought you all should hear about. Interested in more use cases? Check out Emerj Plus: emerj.com/p1
Returning today is the great and brilliant Dr. Dmitry Efimov, VP of Machine Learning Research at American Express, one of the world's largest credit card companies. Today, Dr. Efimov helps us understand what makes for a successful AI firm, the right mix of technical folks, and how we connect them to the actual business processes, with the right team mix and communications channels to deliver fruitful AI projects. Want to support the podcast? Please consider leaving us a review: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ai-in-business/id670771965
Today's guest is the great and brilliant Ron Glozman, CEO & Founder of Chisel.ai, an award-winning insurance firm AI solution that reads unstructured insurance data and automatically recognizes insurance-specific data points. Today Ron and I will discuss AI use-cases in insurance for both Brokers and Carriers. We will also discuss and understand the workflows impacted and where AI fits into those workflows. Are you interested in more Insurance Use-Cases? Get Emerj's PDF guide: https://emerj.com/ins1
Returning today is the great and brilliant Peter Durlach, Senior Vice President of Healthcare Strategy for Nuance Communications, one of the pioneer and leading companies in conversational AI innovations, servicing the Healthcare space with AI products for well over a decade. Peter today helps us understand who in Healthcare is adopting AI, what common factors make businesses more or less common to adopt AI, and provides us insights into the technical ability, resources, and culture required for AI adoption. Want to learn more about adopting and applying Artificial Intelligence? Get Emerj's PDF guide: https://emerj.com/beg1
Today's guest is the great and brilliant Robert LoCascio, CEO of LivePerson, a public company providing real-time intelligent customer engagement solutions to 10,000+ customers, including giants like Citibank, HSBC, Orange, and The Home Depot. In this episode, Robert breaks down the opportunity spaces for conversational AI, exploring the automation, interfaces, and evolution of technologies. Want to support the podcast? Please consider leaving us a review: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ai-in-business/id670771965
Returning today is one of my favorite guests, the great a brilliant Dr. Charles Martin. Doc Martin received his Ph.D. in Theoretical Chemical Physics from the University of Chicago, where he authored scientific programs in C and Fortran using the Cray supercomputer. His company, Aardvark (later acquired by Google), developed statistical machine learning techniques (SVM, NLP, etc.) for search. Today's episode topics include: how to speak to executive leaders to make ROI clear and set realistic expectations, challenges of AI adoption, and what holds leaders back. Are you a consultant, vendor, advisor, or enterprise leader working to catalyze AI adoption? Consider applying to Emerj's AI Catalyst accelerator program. Learn more: emerj.com/catalyst
Today's guest is the great and brilliant Derek Choy, Co-Founder & COO of Aktana. This Silicon-Valley-based startup has raised $65+ million to empower data-driven insights for Life Sciences sales professionals with its AI-driven platform. In this episode, Derek helps us understand how to leverage AI to make salespeople more effective, breaking down sales workflows where AI can help most. These insights could be helpful in any industry. Want to learn more? Here are three ways to discover AI trends in any sector: emerj.com/t3
Returning today is Abinash Tripathy, CEO & Founder of Helpshift. The AI-powered support platform has raised $50+ million in venture funding since 2011. It is now installed on more than two billion devices worldwide, serving giants like Microsoft, Xfinity, and Zynga. In this episode, Abinash opens up about: where conversational AI is getting the most fruitful traction, the most natural fits between customers and NLP technology, and where AI investments are trending. Want to discover more NLP use cases? Get Emerj's free PDF Brief: "Unlocking the Business Value of NLP" at emerj.com/nlp1
Today's guest is the great and brilliant Dr. Abhishek Pani, Sr. Vice President of Product Mgmt at Bright Machines, a Silicon Valley startup founded in 2018. The company has raised $150+ million to bring together flexible factory robots with intelligent software, production data, and machine learning. In today's episode, Dr. Pani shares his valuable perspective on the transforming landscape of AI capabilities in manufacturing and how AI can empower dextrous micro-scale operations. Dr. Pani received his Ph.D. in Operations Research from the University of Maryland, co-founded Adobe's Data Science research awards program, and served as an adjunct faculty member at Stanford University. Want to explore Emerj's full library of AI use cases? Get Emerj Plus: emerj.com/p1
Today, the great and brilliant Dr. Tanushree Luke returns. Dr. Luke is Head of AI at US Bank (USA's 5th largest bank). In this episode, we discuss conversational agents as a tool for streamlining access to internal systems for employees and between departments, including efforts underway and promising opportunities. Dr. Luke earned her Ph.D. in Theoretical/Mathematical Physics and MS in Physics and Applied Engineering from George Mason University. Previously she served as the Head of Predictive AI and Machine Learning for Capital One's Conversational AI Platform. Dr. Luke also served as Technical Lead for the Department of Defense/DARPA Network Defense Program and held leadership roles at companies supporting the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Energy. Want to dive deeper into AI opportunities in Financial Services? Get Emerj's PDF guide: emerj.com/fin1
Returning today is the great and brilliant Dr. Spence Green, CEO of Lilt, an AI-powered enterprise language translation company that has raised $37.5 million since founded in 2015. Its platform combines adaptive neural machine translation technology with an enterprise translation management system. In this episode, Dr. Green helps us break down the role of man vs. machine for language translation and offers a peek under the hood at what NLP looks like in an enterprise application. Want to discover more AI opportunities? Try Emerj's Use Case Explorer, included with Emerj Plus: emerj.com/p1
Today, the great and brilliant Kurt Muehmel returns. Kurt is Chief Customer Officer at Dataiku, a unicorn AI platform that has raised $250+ million since 2013 and outranked Google in Gartner's 2020 reports. In this episode, Kurt helps us break down the factors and capabilities that inspire enterprise leaders to make the leap for strategic and transformative AI investments. Are you also an AI Catalyst? Consider applying for Emerj's accelerator program: emerj.com/cat1
Today's guest is the great and brilliant Dr. Maxim Khalilov. At the time of this interview, Dr. Khalilov was Director of Applied AI at Unbabel, an AI-driven language translation platform. Now he's Head of R&D at Glovo, a unicorn startup based in Spain. He earned his Ph.D. in CS from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Maxim specializes in statistical machine translation and has authored 43 publications. In this episode, Dr. Khalilov helps us dive into the unique opportunities and challenges of AI engineering in Europe. Are you considering investing in AI for your organization? Check out Emerj's pdf guide for business leaders: emerj.com/beg1
Today's guest is the great and brilliant Dr. Pavel Dmitriev, VP of Data Science at Outreach.io. This AI-driven sales engagement platform has raised over $250 million since founded in 2011. We spoke with Outreach's CEO, Manny Medina, several months ago on the podcast. In this episode, Dr. Dmitriev helps us break down how to drive tangible business value for customers, with AI. Topics include: strategic & technical feasibility considerations, matching capabilities to user needs, and business value drivers. Want access to Emerj's best insights, frameworks, and exclusive infographics? Get Emerj Plus: emerj.com/x1
Today's guest is the great and brilliant Scot Alexander, Managing Director at Optimity Advisors. Scot is an industrial engineer with broad experience as an enterprise systems integration leader and a deep skillset in Healthcare Technology. Before Optimity, he directed teams at PwC, Accenture, and HP. Now, he's serving industry leaders to level up their capabilities with AI. In this episode, Scot helps us break down C-suite perspectives on: AI vs IT transformation projects, how the pandemic has altered technology priorities, and how AI will be integral for healthy enterprises.
Emerj is uniting AI Catalysts like Scot to help enterprises worldwide understand and integrate the next wave of intelligent systems. To learn more or apply for Emerj's "AI Catalyst" accelerator program, visit emerj.com/cat1
Today's guest is the great and brilliant Henri Nikula Kaleva, Director at RELEX Labs, a product innovation department of the Helsinki-based RELEX Solutions. RELEX is a leader in retail optimization software, and in today's episode, Henri helps us break down how AI is empowering the future of Retail. Want to discover more opportunities for AI in Retail? Get Emerj's free Executive Brief: emerj.com/ret1
Today's guest is the great and brilliant Dr. Derek Wang, Founder and CEO of Stratifyd. Since 2015, Stratifyd has raised $50+ million for its AI-powered analytics platform, enabling enterprises to transform structured and unstructured human textual data. In this episode, Dr. Wang shares hard-won lessons about conveying the value of AI to potential clients. Getting started with AI in your organization? Discover three critical insights for beginning with AI: emerj.com/beg1
Today's guest is the great and brilliant Brett Beranek, VP of Security & Biometrics at Nuance Communications [NASDAQ:NUAN]. Founded in 1992, Nuance pioneered conversational AI that understands, analyzes, and responds to human language. In this episode, Brett elucidates the opportunity landscape for AI-driven biometric security, focusing on financial services. Want to discover more opportunities for AI in Finance? Check out our other podcast: "AI in Financial Services." And get the AI in FS cheat sheet: emerj.com/fin1
Today's guest is the great and brilliant Dr. Kristof Szalay, CTO and Founder of Turbine.AI. Turbine's AI-driven platform understands cancer's inner mechanisms, enabling the discovery of novel targets & precision medicinal therapies. Episode topics include: dynamics of pharmaceutical technologies, change management opportunities, cultural evolution to support AI initiatives. Want to discover more ways to meet the challenges of catalyzing AI adoption? Try Emerj Plus: emerj.com/p1
Today's guest is the great and brilliant Lorena Pelegrín, Product Manager of InSight, Iron Mountain's AI-driven Content Services Platform. Iron Mountain serves more than 225,000 organizations for secure data & asset storage, spanning 90+ million sq. ft. of data centers and real estate. And Google recently celebrated InSight as its AI & ML Cloud Partner of the Year. Episode topics include: subsurface data, asset inspection workflows, and setting up "digital twins."
Today's guest is the great and brilliant Jim Benton, CEO of Chorus.ai. Chorus has raised over $100 million for its AI-driven platform, which helps sales teams transform conversations into data and insights. Episode topics include: how to build AI-driven products that effectively transform enterprise workflows, best practices for presenting the value of AI initiatives to various stakeholders, how to inspire adoption and ease intimidating factors, and risk management opportunities. Want to discover more best practices for presenting the ROI of AI? Check out Emerj Plus: emerj.com/p1
Today's guest is the great and brilliant Roman Vitkovitsky. Roman supports the Pentagon's Cyberspace operations. He formerly served as COO/CTO of the Marine Corps Cyberspace Operations Group and in stints serving DARPA, NATO, and in multiple adjunct professor roles, to name a few. In this episode, Roman shares how AI is leading the bleeding edge for Cyberspace Defense, enabling nimble actions in complex threat environments. Leaders at all levels may find these insights powerful and relevant. Want to discover AI trends in any sector? Get Emerj's PDF guide: emerj.com/t3
Today's guest is the great and brilliant Shri Santhanam, Global Head of Advanced Analytics & AI at Experian. The international credit reporting agency supports data-driven services in over 100 countries, with a database of over 1 billion individuals. In this episode, Shri breaks down the unique AI opportunities and challenges evolving for Experian. Episode topics include: the evolution of big data & analytics, data accessibility, and the AI skills landscape. Want to discover the best of Emerj's industry insights? Get Emerj Plus: emerj.com/p1
Today's guest is the great and brilliant Kristopher Lorang, FS Product Manager at Iron Mountain, a secure storage company founded in 1951 when Herman Knaust repurposed his mine as a vault. Now a publicly-traded international services firm, Iron Mountain is still a leader in secure storage, which now includes digital record storage and management. The company's history exemplifies how organizations can and should evolve with the times. In this episode, Kris offers a peek at how Iron Mountain is staying on the cutting edge with AI-driven services for document search & discovery. Learn more at: ironmountain.com
Today's guest is the great and brilliant Keith Strier, VP of Worldwide AI Initiatives at NVIDIA. Previously, Keith served as Global AI Leader at Ernst & Young, where he supported nations to form and mature their AI plans. This included the development of AI infrastructure, education, and overall strategy. Dan and Keith met at the UN headquarters when presenting on a panel about the emergence of deepfakes (deep-learning-driven faked faces or other identifiers). Now, Keith shares his perspective on public sector AI planning from his perch at NVIDIA, relating what all enterprises and businesses can learn from the AI strategies of nations. Want to learn more about AI opportunities in the public sector? Get Emerj's US Public Sector AI Opportunity Report: emerj.com/gov1
Today's guest is the great and brilliant Geoffrey Tate, CEO of Flex Logix, a leader in AI chip engineering. In this episode, Geoffrey shares his valuable perspective on the critical use cases for high-powered edge compute across industries like computer vision, heavy industry, retail, and some broad applications useful across any sector. Flex Logix will be presenting at the Edge AI Summit, Nov 18-20, hosted by Kisaco Research. Learn more: https://bit.ly/2RAv62n
Today's guest is the great and brilliant Dr. Ivan Marin, Principal Data Scientist at the Daitan Group, one of America's fastest-growing software engineering firms. Dr. Marin earned his Ph.D. in Physics from EESC-USP. In this episode, he walks us through an exercise using the Machine Learning Canvas, exploring risks and opportunities associated with implementing and scaling AI for small and medium-sized businesses. The Daitan Group builds core technology, data solutions, and software products that scale: daitan.com
Today's guest is the great and brilliant Gilad Turbahn, Sr. Director of Product Management at Apttus, which acquired his former employer, Conga, for $700+ million in 2020, joining Apttus's quote-to-cash capabilities with Conga's contract lifecycle management platform. In this episode, Gilad helps us learn how AI can enhance back-office workflows, clearly mapping the space before and after implementation to show how AI creates value. Want to discover more opportunities to use natural language processing for automation? Get Emerj's free PDF brief: Unlocking the Business Value of NLP emerj.com/nlp1
Today I'm excited and honored to welcome back a long-time mentor who I really respect, the great a brilliant Dr. Charles Martin. Doc Martin received his Ph.D. in Theoretical Chemical Physics from the University of Chicago, where he authored scientific programs in C and Fortran using the Cray supercomputer. His company, Aardvark (later acquired by Google), developed statistical machine learning techniques (SVM, NLP, etc.) for the Aardvark social search engine. Want to expand your AI services? Until tomorrow (10/29), get Emerj's new "Finding AI Opportunities" report free with Emerj Plus membership: emerj.com/op1
Today's guest is the great and brilliant Wijay Wijayakumaran, Chief Architect, ML/DL & AI at IBM Systems. In this episode, Wijay helps us explore AI in surprising spaces, like Elder Care. As populations age worldwide, healthcare organizations across the globe are meeting demand with intelligent technologies. Learn insights gleaned from the heads of AI at Square, Slack, and HSBC with Emerj's AI Opportunities report (free for new Emerj Plus members until 10/30): emerj.com/op1
Today's guest is the great and brilliant Dr. Nick Pilkington, CTO and Founder of Drone Deploy. To date, DroneDeploy has raised 90+ million dollars for its cloud-based drone mapping and analytics platform, which enables capabilities such as automated flight safety checks, workflows, and real-time mapping and data processing. DroneDeploy is compatible with any drone, and industries adopting this technology include agriculture, real estate, mining, and construction. In this episode: Dr. Pilkington breaks down opportunities to enhance user experience and lower entry barriers for AI-driven technologies. Discover more opportunities, frameworks, and infographics for leveling up your AI capabilities with Emerj Plus: emerj.com/p1
Today's guest is the great and brilliant Dr. Dmitry Efimov, VP of Machine Learning Research at American Express. Dr. Efimov has lead the charge to detect fraudulent transactions and activity at Amex. Episode topics include: breaking down the evolution of fraud detection, the future of AI-driven fraud detection, and what's next for AI at Amex. Want to learn more about AI in financial services? Read Emerj's pdf guide: emerj.com/fin1
Today we welcome the return of the great and brilliant Bryton Shang, CEO of Aquabyte, which has raised $10 million to bring AI to fish farming. This episode focuses on the product and processes of Aquabyte as a case study in how to best service industrial managers and workers. Episode topics include: how to build AI products for non-technical audiences, keeping the data science (data labeling, feature selection, etc.) in the hands of the vendor, AI software as a service. Want to learn more about AI at the edge? Join industry leaders at the Edge AI Summit, hosted by Kisaco Research. Attend virtually, Nov 18-20th. Learn more: bit.ly/2RAv62n
Today's guest is the great and brilliant Manuel Terranova, CEO of Peaxy. Since 2012, Peaxy has raised $30+ million to expand its AI-driven platform, helping companies unlock the value of their industrial data. Manuel shares some really valuable insights: diving into the landscape of sensor data e.g. temperature, energy usage, flow rate, GPS, vibration, acceleration, etc., transformational opportunities for predictive analytics, and how to start exploring these opportunities. Learn more: peaxy.net
Today's guest is the great and brilliant Spence Green, CEO of Lilt. Lilt has received $35+ million in venture funding since 2015 to build its AI-powered language translation platform, which combines adaptive neural machine translation technology with an enterprise translation management system. Episode topics include: how to simplify system integrations, when enterprise transformation is required before AI can be implemented, how Lilt can maintain brand voice in nuanced translations across many languages. Want the best of Emerj's insights? Try Emerj Plus: emerj.com/p1
Today's guest is the great and brilliant Bryton Shang, Founder & CEO of Aquabytes, which has raised $10 million to bring AI to fish farming. Bryton shows how AI is opening doors for transformation far from traditional high technology centers. Episode topics also include: how to create a successful AI product that fits into a conventional industrial workflow, how AI can be used to detect and support the health and behavior of fish at farms. Want to learn more about AI at the edge? Join industry leaders at the Edge AI Summit, hosted by Kisaco Research. Attend virtually, Nov 18-20th. Learn more: bit.ly/2RAv62n
Today's guest is the great and brilliant, Ron Bodkin. Ron has served as Director of Applied AI at Google, VP/GM of AI at Teradata, founded multiple technology ventures, and now leads AI & Engineering at Vector Institute and Schwartz Reisman Institute. In this episode, Ron shares how to avoid scattered projects by following a reliable roadmap for leveled investment in AI capabilities. Want to learn about Emerj's best practices and frameworks? Get Emerj's report: "Generating AI ROI": emerj.com/roi1
Today's guest is the great and brilliant Kurt Muehmel, Chief Customer Officer of Dataiku. Dataiku is a unicorn AI platform that has raised $250+ million since 2013 and outranked Google in Gartner's 2020 reports. In this episode, Kurt discusses some of the platform's powerful capabilities and brings it down to earth with some relatable examples. Want to discover more ways to apply AI in your organization? Join Emerj Plus: emerj.com/p1
Today's guest is the great and brilliant Matthew Mattina, Director of Machine Learning Research at ARM. ARM is a leading technology provider of silicon IP and custom SoCs at the heart of billions of devices. Mr. Mattina's research agenda covers deep learning, neural network design & optimization, and HW accelerator architecture, resulting in ISA extensions, SW libraries, novel microarchitectures for ML inference and training, and efficient neural network models. Episode topics include: Mr. Mattina's criteria for AI readiness and how to customize your AI Readiness Checklist. Are you a business or innovation leader exploring opportunities for leveraging AI? Check out Emerj's 9-page Pdf Guide, Beginning with AI: emerj.com/beg1
Today's guest is the great and brilliant Roeland Nusselder, CEO and Co-founder of Plumerai. Plumerai is making deep learning tiny and computationally radically more efficient, to enable inference on edge devices. Episode topics include: nuances of leveraging machine learning at the edge, the limitations and capabilities of ML processing on legacy and standard chipsets. Roeland is presenting at this year's AI Hardware Summit, hosted by our sponsor, Kisaco Research. Attend virtually, Sept 29 - Oct 7. Want to connect with AI industry leaders? Learn more about the Summit here: bit.ly/2Ywz1kU
Today's guest is the great and brilliant Marshall Choy, VP of Product at SambaNova. SambaNova is a unicorn startup that has raised $450+ million since its founding in 2017 to enable optimum performance for any ML training, inference, or analytics model. In this episode, Marshall dives into key trends driving AI hardware innovation. SambaNova is also presenting at this year's AI Hardware Summit, hosted by our sponsor, Kisaco Research. Attend virtually, Sept 29 - Oct 7. Want to learn more? Visit: https://aihardwaresummit.com/events/ai-hardware-summit
Today's guest is the great and brilliant Abinash Tripathy, CEO and Founder of HelpShift, an AI-powered support platform installed on more than two billion devices worldwide. HelpShift has raised $50+ million in venture funding since its founding in 2011, and its customers include giants like Microsoft, Xfinity, and Zynga. Dan's last interview with Abinash covered the challenges of AI deployment in the enterprise. This episode's topics include: chatbot capabilities, best/worst AI deployment approaches, lessons learned, and which problems are solvable with AI. Want to learn more about chatbots and other NLP use cases? Download Emerj's guide: emerj.com/nlp1
Concluding Emerj's first AI Futures series, Dan speaks with Dr. Hugo de Garis, an enigmatic figure in AI research, who has been publishing and positing on AI methods and implications for 30+ years. Dr. De Garis ran the Artificial Brain Lab at Xiamen University. His controversial book, "The Artilect War," plays out potential conflict between AI proponents, dissidents, and the machines themselves, as AI's power rises. Episode topics include: technology-centered conflict scenarios, the AI control problem, the nature of human relationships with potential superintelligent AI, and possible forms of effective AI governance.
Conversations in this series have spanned from near-term governance to far-out notions. What do you think? And what would you like to hear next? Let us know: emerj.com/pod3
Today we're excited to welcome the return of the great and brilliant Sankar Narayanan. Sankar is Chief Practice Officer of Fractal Analytics, a unicorn AI & analytics services firm, which has raised $300+ million since its founding in 2000. Fractal Analytics offers a range of products and services, empowering optimal decisions across the world's largest enterprises. Episode topics include: dynamics on the buyer and vendor side for potential new AI/analytics partnerships, setting realistic expectations for a first project together, and the right questions to ask when vetting potential vendors or clients. Are you a non-technical professional, exploring opportunities to apply AI in your business? Download Emerj's guide: "Beginning with AI" emerj.com/beg1
Today's guest is the great and brilliant Dr. Michael Segala, CEO and co-founder of SFL Scientific, a Boston-based Data Science and AI consultancy. Dr. Segala earned his Ph.D. in Physics from Brown University and co-founded SFL Scientific in 2015. Since then, his firm has grown to 30+ employees, was chosen as Nvidia's Service Delivery Partner of the Year (for the last two years), and has earned growing partnerships with distinguished clients like the US Military. Episode topics include: how data science can empower and automate Defense analysis, pattern recognition for anomaly and threat detection, and opportunities for embedding AI to support current and future workflows. Want to level up your organization's AI capabilities? Try Emerj Plus: emerj.com/p1
Today's guest is the great and brilliant Dr. Ben Goertzel, the man who coined the term AGI with his eponymous book, "Artificial General Intelligence." Dr. Goertzel is known by many from his role as Chief Scientist of Hanson Robotics, where he lead the creation of Sophia, the first robot to be granted national citizenship. Dr. Goertzel founded OpenCog, an open-source software framework for AGI. He also founded SingularityNET, a decentralized marketplace for AI algorithms. Episode topics include: Dr. Goertzel's optimistic vision for AGI's future, how it might be born, and why decentralized frameworks may offer the most fertile ground for AI evolution.
Dan and Ben first met in 2012, and we're grateful to Ben for keeping up the conversation. No series on the Future of AI would be complete without him.
Today's guest is the great and brilliant Rick Calle of M12, Microsoft's corporate venture fund. M12 has leveraged Microsoft's leadership and know-how to allocate billions across its portfolio of 100+ startups. In this episode, Rick shares insights from M12 and hones in on critical levers that AI-driven enterprises can pull to reduce their energy costs. Rick is also one of the presenters at this year's AI Hardware Summit, hosted by this episode's sponsor: Kisaco Research. Attend virtually, Sept 29 - Oct 7. Register today!
The great and brilliant Dr. Kristof Szalay returns to the podcast. Dr. Szalay is CTO and Founder of Turbine.ai, a simulation-driven drug discovery company, delivering targeted cancer therapies to targeted patient populations. Today's episode topics include: how AI integrates with the phases of drug discovery, development, and generally applicable enterprise deployment challenges. Want to discover opportunities to integrate AI in your organization? Try Emerj Plus: emerj.com/p1
Today's guest is the great and brilliant Dr. Steve Omohundro, Chief Scientist at AIBrain. AIBrain is creating Turingworld, a powerful AI learning social media platform based on AI-optimized learning, AI-powered gamification, and AI-enhanced social interaction. Dr. Steve Omohundro received his Ph.D. in Physics from U.C. Berkeley. He also founded an organization to support AI safety and another organization to advance new intelligence architectures based on the programming language Omda, the specification language Omex, and the semantics language Omai. Episode topics include: how humans can build safe AI, what facets of AI development might/might-not require global governance, how the international community might best collaborate to prioritize AGI development efforts, and how AI may influence our lives as consumers.
The great and brilliant Tim Estes returns for another conversation, this time focused on AI readiness. Tim is Founder & CEO of Digital Reasoning, an American AI company that raised over $130 million to bring cognitive computing services to intelligence agencies, financial institutions, and healthcare organizations. This episode's topics include: what AI readiness means, ground rules and AI readiness components including: data, expertise, and in-house talent. Want to learn more about how to implement AI in your organization? Download Emerj's guide: emerj.com/beg1
Today's guest is the great and brilliant Dr. Gregory Diamos, Transformation Engineer at Landing AI, an innovative AI engineering firm founded by Andrew Ng (who also founded Coursera and deeplearning.ai). Dr. Diamos holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech. Previous to his current role, he served as Silicon Valley AI Research Lead for Baidu, after stints at Nvidia and Intel. Episode topics include: what sets apart AI hardware from other CPU's, what businesses and industries will especially benefit from advances in AI chips. Dr. Diamos is one of the presenters at this year's AI Hardware Summit, hosted by this episode's sponsor: Kisaco Research. Attend virtually, Sept 29 - Oct 7. Register today!
Today we step farther into AI futures with the great and brilliant Jerome Glenn, Executive Director of The Millenium Project. This participatory think tank publishes the annual "State of the Future." For over a quarter of a century, Jerome has collaborated with organizations from the Red Cross to the Korean government to map out potential futures. Episode topics include: critical global stakeholders for technology governance, win-win scenarios for international collaboration, how artificial general intelligence might transform the future.
Today I'm excited to welcome the return of one of our veteran guests, the great and brilliant Dr. Babak Hodjat, VP of Evolutionary AI at Cognizant, one of the world's most intelligent enterprise IT integration & service firms. Babak has 20+ years of AI experience, founding his first AI startup in 1998 in the SF Bay area and later founding Sentient Technologies, which raised $174 million to innovate with AI in trading. In this episode, Babak shares best practices for pilot projects, to set expectations for enterprise implementations. Want to learn more about how to get started with AI in your organization? Check out Emerj's guide: emerj.com/beg1
Today's guest is the great and brilliant Dr. Francisco Zamora-Martinez, Facial Biometrics Lead at Veridas. Francisco received his Ph.D. from the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), specializing in Artificial Intelligence, Pattern Recognition, and Digital Imaging. Episode topics include: opportunities and challenges presented by facial recognition and biometrics, unique opportunities for AI innovation in Europe, and how Europe is leading technology transformation. Want to learn more? Check out Emerj's professional reports: emerj.com/reports
Today I'm happy to bring you another futurist discussion, with the great and brilliant David Wood. David holds degrees in Mathematics and Philosophy from Oxford University. He is a thought leader and activist in multiple organizations, notably serving as Board Director of SingularityNET (with Ben Goertzel), Chair of the London Futurists, and Executive Director of Transpolitica. Episode topics include: David's perspective on the practical steps and interim goals that could lead toward broader international collaboration for AI governance, bridges from near-term to long-term governance, potential transformations of international politics, and other issues of AI ethics.
Listen to Dan's interview with the great and brilliant Dr. Derek Wang, CEO and Founder of Stratifyd. Dr. Wang's AI-powered analytics company has raised $50 million+, enabling enterprise companies to transform structured and unstructured human textual data from a unified platform. Episode topics include: a view of analytics for financial services before and after transformation for machine learning, the maturity landscape from retrospective dashboards to predictive analytics, and Derek's hard-won lessons from new implementations. Want to discover the core AI use cases driving transformation in Financial Services? Get Emerj's FS Cheat Sheet: emerj.com/fin1
Today I'm excited to welcome back the great and brilliant Peter Voss, founder/ CEO/ Chief Scientist of Aigo.ai and AGI Innovations. Peter is one of the world's most prominent minds in the Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) space. Peter collaborated and contributed to AGI work with Ben Goertzel, which resulted in the eponymous book, Artificial General Intelligence, and Shane Legg, now Chief Scientist at Google's DeepMind. Episode topics include: potential futures for AI capabilities and legislation, and what it means to prepare for an AI boom. Peter's first podcast appearance was back in 2013, and I've had the pleasure of swapping ideas with him about his work and publications over the years since. He's an essential mind in this space, and I'm grateful to have him back as a contributor to this series.
Mark Ewing, Sr. Technologist and Architect at Eastman Chemicals, emphasizes identifying key leverage points for AI as foundational for successful and profitable AI adoption in the enterprise. He asserts that the challenges of high engineering and adequate staffing are made easier with clear and compelling opportunities in scope for executives. Eastman has delivered specialty chemicals for over 100 years, earning over $9 billion in revenue for 2019. We're grateful to learn from his highly valuable perspective atop Eastman's formidable presence in the industry. Aiming to transform your organization's capabilities for AI readiness? Download Emerj's guide: emerj.com/beg1
Today I'm excited to share a conversation with Mark Gazit, CEO of ThetaRay. This New York-based fintech firm raised over $80 million to expand threat detection solutions to critical infrastructure, financial institutions, and other verticals. Mark speaks about where AI is enabling new capabilities in compliance and fraud detection, shares valuable insights for successful AI deployments, and risk management lessons that translate to other industries. Want to apply AI in finance? Download Emerj's AI in Financial Services Cheat Sheet: emerj.com/fin1
Today I'm excited to welcome back long-time friend and alumnus of the podcast, Dr. Roman Yampolskiy. Roman is Director of the University of Louisville's Cybersecurity Lab. He has authored four books and many more academic publications about AI, cybersecurity, AI safety, and other areas of computer science. This discussion jumps off from ideas in his most recent book, "Artificial Superintelligence: a Futuristic Approach," and unpacks further-out AI futures, exploring possibilities and challenges pertaining to AI governance, artificial general intelligence, and more...
Priya Rajagopalan, Chief Product Officer of FourKites, shares how to leverage AI for a real competitive advantage. FourKites has raised over $100 million in venture capital to build an end-to-end supply chain visibility platform that major global companies use to track and manage freight. This conversation sheds light on how emergent intelligence is disrupting even the world's most stable and traditional industries. Enterprise strategy and innovation leaders may glean valuable insights from this example. Want to discover more case studies and insights? Explore Emerj's AI Best Practices Library: emerj.com/p1
Dr. Tanushree Luke, Head of AI at US Bank (USA's 5th largest bank), shares pragmatic opportunities for improving customer experience in banking, by learning from customer interactions. For example: how to prompt users with the right features and services to predict needs and solve problems more effortlessly. Dr. Luke earned her Ph.D. in Theoretical/Mathematical Physics and MS in Physics and Applied Engineering from George Mason University. Previously she served as the Head of Predictive AI and Machine Learning for Capital One's Conversational AI Platform. Dr. Luke also served as Technical Lead for the Department of Defense/DARPA Network Defense Program and held leadership roles at companies supporting the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Energy. Want to learn more about AI opportunities in banking? Download Emerj's AI in Banking Cheat Sheet: emerj.com/cs1
Our AI Futures series aims to share perspectives from those pushing the boundaries of technology, and this episode's discussion steps toward farther-out potential futures.
Before founding the US Transhumanist Party, Zoltan earned a degree in Philosophy & Religion from Columbia University, worked as a reporter for National Geographic, and served as a Director for WildAid (a nonprofit protecting endangered species). In recent years, he's shifted his focus to authorship, speaking, and activism, with a focus toward the long-term future for humanity. His book, "The Transhumanist Wager," is an Amazon best-seller.
This episode dives into perspectives pertinent to the future of AI governance e.g. dynamics of the USA-China AI race, the "winner-take-all" potential for powers controlling artificial general intelligence (AGI), and China's potential rise in an environment with fewer regulations and hurdles for transformational technologies like AGI, gene editing, and neurotech.
Manny Medina, CEO and co-founder of unicorn startup Outreach.io, shares wisdom from the trenches of AI adoption. We're excited to have him on for many reasons - to celebrate his success (Outreach's valuation recently surpassed $1 billion), exemplify how AI early adopters are disrupting Industry, and learn from his real-life journey of AI adoption. He shares how he thought about potential leverage points for AI, the kinds of experiments necessary to test these opportunities, what Outreach learned the hard way, and what they feel like they're getting right.
Before Outreach, Manny was employee number three on Amazon's AWS team and led the Microsoft mobile division from launch to $50M in annual revenue. He holds an MBA from Harvard and a Masters in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania.
Outreach is a sales engagement platform that accelerates revenue growth by optimizing every interaction throughout the customer lifecycle. The platform manages all customer interactions across email, voice and social, and leverages machine learning to guide reps to take the right actions. Customers include Cloudera, Glassdoor, Pandora, Zillow.
This episode was inspired by Emerj's community, requesting more tales and lessons learned from successful AI implementations. What else do you want to hear? We'd love your feedback and ideas. Get engaged with Emerj Plus: emerj.com/p1.
Nicholas Pilkington, CTO and Co-Founder of DroneDeploy, breaks down drone technology trends and dives into some powerful use cases in heavy industry. Notably, drones are transforming best practices for equipment maintenance monitoring by using computer vision. Nick goes into great detail about the process improvement opportunities in this space and shares valuable insights about the trajectory of drone technology capabilities.
To date, DroneDeploy has raised 90+ million dollars for its cloud-based drone mapping and analytics platform, which enables capabilities such as automated flight safety checks, workflows, and real-time mapping and data processing. Industries adopting this technology include: agriculture, real estate, mining, construction, and many other commercial and consumer arenas. DroneDeploy is compatible with any drone.
Want to learn 3 ways to find AI trends in any sector? Download Emerj's free pdf: emerj.com/t3
Ben Garfinkel is a Research Fellow at Oxford's Future of Humanity Insitute (FHI). In this episode, he breaks down key issues central to the near-term formation of good AI governance, such as: the comparative advantages of centralized vs decentralized governance structures, the influence of big tech on governance, etc. He does a great job of presenting the possibilities in clear and objective terms for consideration. We're grateful for Ben and FHI's seminal and leading contributions to AI governance, and - writ large - we suggest that our listeners and clients take heed and engage with the important work manifesting from FHI's brilliant minds.
Ben is a DPhil student at Oxford’s Department of Politics and International Relations. He previously earned a degree in Physics and in Mathematics and Philosophy from Yale University.
FHI is a multidisciplinary research institute at the University of Oxford. Academics at FHI bring the tools of mathematics, philosophy and social sciences to bear on big-picture questions about humanity and its prospects. The Institute is led by Founding Director Professor Nick Bostrom, author of "Superintelligence".
Today's discussion is with Brett Beranek of Nuance Communications, arguably the best-known NLP company in the world. Nuance has been selling AI to enterprises for decades, earning billions of revenue in this mature space. In this episode, Brett shares valuable insights and predictions about how technology priorities might and should transform in the post-Covid world. Learn more with Emerj's Pandemic Response - Business Continuity Playbook: emerj.com/p1
Glen de Vries cofounded Medidata in 1999, offering SaaS-based clinical development solutions addressing the functioning of customers' clinical trials, and 20 years later the company - which he still leads - sold to Dassault Systemes for almost $6 billion. What a triumph, Glen! Thank you for joining the podcast. Listen in as Glen shares his unique and valuable perspective on the current state and potential futures for the data ecosystem in Life Sciences. Want to stay on the cutting edge of emerging data-driven technologies? Try out Emerj Plus: emerj.com/p1
Today's interview is with, Konstantinos Karachalios, Managing Director of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Standards Association (ieee.org).
Konstantinos earned a Ph.D. in Energy Engineering (nuclear reactor safety) from the University of Stuttgart. Before IEEE, Konstantinos played a crucial role in international scenario simulation for large-scale nuclear reactor accidents. And with the European Patent Office, his experience included establishing EPO’s patent academy.
For 100+ years, the IEEE has developed global standards for bleeding-edge technologies like nuclear power, blockchain, nanotech, systems engineering, and many more. Emerj is a big supporter of the IEEE's AI standards for "Ethically Aligned Design", and in this talk, we speak about what's happening in the early stages of AI standards and policy formation around the world.
In this podcast Joel Minnick, AI & ML Strategy Leader at Amazon Web Services (now VP at Databricks), shares his valuable perspective on what defines "AI Readiness" for large enterprises. Want to discover how to pick high-ROI projects? Explore Emerj's flagship Research and Strategy Services: emerj.com/aiol
Today, Peter Durlach, Senior Vice President of Nuance Communications, joins the podcast to discuss important and timely opportunities for AI in Healthcare. Peter shares how enhancing and automating key elements of physician workflows with intelligent solutions can ease the workload and reduce burnout among physicians. Want to discover more AI trends? Explore Emerj's 4-page Guide: emerj.com/t3
In June 2019, the G20 adopted human-centered AI Principles that draw from the OECD Principles on AI. Emerj was invited to Paris to collaborate with the OECD's AI Governance efforts, and today we're excited to share this interview with Karine Perset, Economist and Policy Analyst at the OECD's AI Policy Observatory. She speaks about the role of principles in the formation of national legislation, international governance, and shares how leaders can nudge the evolution of powerful technologies like artificial intelligence, to steward a safe and abundant world.
Today's guest is Sankar Narayanan, Chief Practice Officer at Fractal Analytics, a unicorn company in Bangalore. Sankar's last interview with Emerj was last year's most popular episode: "How to measure the ROI of AI". We're excited to share more of Sankar's insights in this episode, with a special focus on how to deploy and position AI pilot projects for momentum that leads to bigger and better projects. For more insights gathered's from global AI leaders like Nick Bostrom, Stuart Russell, and Ben Goertzel, check out Emerj Plus - emerj.com/p1
Today we kick off the first in a series of discussions about AI in Europe with Martin Musiol, Sr. Data Scientist at IBM. Martin is a member of IBM's Technical Expert Counsel, and in this episode he speaks about what makes the European ecosystem different, providing what may be a peak ahead for other nations following Europe's leadership regarding regulation and data-sharing. Learn more with Emerj's Beginning with AI Guide: emerj.com/beg1
In this first episode in our 12-part Saturday "AI Futures" series, UC Berkeley Professor and renown AI expert Stuart Russell shares his perspectives on the near and long-term considerations of AI governance.
https://emerj.com/ai-podcast-interviews/stuart-russell-ai-governance/
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From June 27th to September 12th, we'll be covering a new "AI Futures" episode about AI governance every Saturday. This is an experimental series designed to extend current AI trends to long-term AI consequences. We hope you'll enjoy.
Today we interview Babak Hodjat, VP of Evolutionary AI at Cognizant, one of world's largest IT integration & service firms. Babak has 20+ years of AI experience, starting his first AI startup in 1998 in the SF Bay area, and later founding Sentient Technologies which raised $174 million to innovate with AI in trading. In this episode, Babak says "AI should be disruptive.", and leaders should "go big". Want to learn more about how to make the business case for AI? Check out Emerj Plus: emerj.com/p1
Today's guest is Jim Barnebee, VP of AI and Infrastructure at GetSwift, a public company that has raised $143 million to bring AI to the world of Delivery - with a smart platform enabling driver management, dispatch tasks, and tracking in real-time. Jim highlights the 2 areas where he thinks logistics will be impacted the most, breaks down hurdles to successful AI deployment, and discusses multiple promising use cases. Emerj has assessed over 80 AI vendors in the logistics and supply chain space. Learn more about Emerj's AI Opportunity Landscape here: emerj.com/aiol
Today we interview Scott Nowson, AI Lead at PwC Middle East. Scott has a Ph.D. in Informatics, with a focus in NLP. Also check out Emerj's guide: Practical Steps to AI Deployment at emerj.com/beg1
In this episode, we interview Yaron Lavie, VP of Products at Earnix. Yaron breaks shares powerful insights about how AI can be leveraged for customizing financial service products, as well as for other use cases in insurance and banking. For quick and valuable insights, download Emerj's AI in Insurance Cheat Sheet: emerj.com/ins1
What's next for AI in logistics? Listen as we break down prescient trends with Tim Gagnon, VP of Analytics & Data Science at CH Robinson, a $16+ Billion logistics & supply chain company based in the USA. Want to implement AI but you're not sure where to start? Discover 3 Key Insights for Non-Technical Professionals to Deploy AI: emerj.com/beg1
Today our guest is Nayeem Islam, CEO of Blue Hexagon, a bay-area cybersecurity firm that has raised $37 million+ for innovation in expansion. This episode focuses on AI applications for cybersecurity in Retail. For a quick breakdown, check out Emerj's AI in Retail Cheat Sheet: emerj.com/ret1
Discover how to nurture alignment that closes AI deals, as we interview Tim Estes, Founder & CEO of Digital Reasoning, an American AI company that raised over $130 million to bring cognitive computing services to intelligence agencies, financial institutions, and healthcare organizations. Whether selling or buying, technology leaders need to ask the right questions before purchasing or implementing AI solutions. In this episode, Tim offers his valuable perspective on how to match AI solutions with real business problems, how to estimate and quickly calibrate ROI, and how to effectively communicate with decision-makers. Discover our full range of high-ROI use cases for AI with Emerj Plus: emerj.com/p1
This week we interview Gary Swart, Partner at VC firm Polaris Partners, former CEO of oDesk (now UpWork, NASDAQ;UPWK), the world’s largest online service marketplace. Gary’s portfolio includes investments in innovative medtech and pharmaceutical companies. And in this episode, he shares his valuable perspective on how the pandemic may transform the opportunity landscape, at the intersection between AI and Healthcare technology. Discover our full range of high-ROI use cases for AI with Emerj Plus: emerj.com/p1
Discover how to leverage the learning capabilities of AI for strategic advantage, as we interview H.P. Bunaes, former Chief Data Officer at Suntrust, now Director of Banking for Data Robot, a Boston-based startup which has raised over $400 million to innovate enterprise AI solutions. H.P. shares his valuable perspective on how strategic leaders can outmatch competition by enhancing the speed at which the organization can learn, with AI-driven technology. What will separate winners from losers in the new economy? Discover 3 keys with Emerj’s Guide here: emerj.com/k3
Discover how AI is transforming procurement as we interview Edmund Zagorin, founder of a bay-area, venture-backed startup called BidOps. Edmund shares his valuable perspective about what the future of AI in procurement looks like and how it ties into the broader landscape of logistics and supply chains. Learn more about how to make the business case for AI in the enterprise: emerj.com/p1
Discover how AI may shift the workflows and approaches to trading as we interview Ash Fontana, managing director at Zetta Venture Partners, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm focused on AI-first companies with B2B business models. Ash shares his valuable perspective on the present and future of AI in trading. Access Emerj's AI in Financial Services Vendor Landscape Brief here: emerj.com/vl1
This week we interview Gary Swart, Partner at VC firm Polaris Partners, former CEO of oDesk (now UpWork, NASDAQ;UPWK), the world’s largest online service marketplace. In this episode, he offers a pragmatic perspective about opportunities and challenges for AI adoption in the current economic climate.
Discover our full range of high-ROI use cases for AI with Emerj Plus: emerj.com/p1
Logistics is behind the time when it comes to data maturity, and it's nearly impossible to get predictive value from disjointed data. This week, Priya Rajagopalan or FourKites shares critical lessons for finding value in logistics data - as well as AI use-cases already making their way into the supply chain.
Learn more about Emerj Plus (emerj.com/p1), and discover our complete AI White Paper Library - including our latest PDF brief: "AI and the Future of the Supply Chain - 3 Critical Trends".
When it comes to AI, the EU is known more for its regulation than its innovation, but it might not have to be that way. This week, Cedric O, French Secretary of State of the Digital Economy, shares his thoughts about balancing the preservation of values and rights with the prosperity and opportunity of new technology.
If you sell AI-related produces or services, and want to find opportunities to sell into the US government, learn more about our "Public Sector AI Opportunity Report" at emerj.com/gov1.
This interview took place in Paris at OECD headquarters. Thank you to the OECD for arranging this interview and providing a recording room.
Every six months, the landscape of AI vendors and enterprise use-cases is shifting. This week, Gary Hagmueller of Clara Analytics shares his perspective on the kinds of tasks and processes most rip for AI transformation in insurance - with examples and explanations that any businessperson can understand. Stay ahead of insurance AI innovation with our PDF white paper "AI in Insurance Executive Cheat Sheet" - download your copy: emerj.com/ins1
Ryan Smithright is a Research Fellow at Emerj Artificial Intelligence Research, and the lead author in our latest "US Public Sector AI Opportunity Report" (learn more at emerj.com/gov1). Ryan spent months investigating and documenting the various AI initiatives, budgets, and strategies for different branches of the US government, and in this interview he breaks down some surprising trends and data snapshots from the complete report. Anyone with an interest in selling AI to the US government should get a lot out of this unique episode.
Chatbots are a hot topic, but it's just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the broader evolution of the customer experience. This week we're joined by Suhas Uliyar, VP of Digital Assistant AI & Integration at Oracle. Suhas breaks down key areas of user experience change, and how AI is helping (or could help) to usher in that transformation. If you're new to chatbots and NLP applications, download our "Unlocking the Business Value of NLP" PDF guide: www.emerj.com/nlp1
Emerj CEO Daniel Faggella recently spoke at the OECD headquarters in Paris for the creation of their AI Policy Observatory. At the event, we spoke with this week's guest: Lynne Parker, Deputy Chief Technology Officer at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
Lynne talks to us about what the US is doing with AI currently at a national level and what the country's priorities are when it comes to AI.
This interview is made all the more relevant by the fact that the private sector is freezing up due to the coronavirus. Meanwhile, the public sector is still spending money on AI and innovation. If you want to learn what the opportunities are for vendors and service providers that want to work with the US government, get our US Public Sector AI Opportunity Report at emerj.com/gov1.
Small companies and enterprises alike are drastically changing their AI strategies in response to the coronavirus. This week, we talk about what it looks like to develop an AI strategy the right way during these disruptive times.
We interview Joel Minnick, Head of Marketing for AI at Amazon Web Services. Joel breaks down his take on how AI can be used to competitive advantage and why an AI strategy is the foundation of that advantage.
If your company is just getting started with AI strategy, be sure to download our Beginning With AI guide at emerj.com/beg1.
In this episode, we focus on digital twins and how AI will impact the future of manufacturing.
Our guest is Laurent Laporte, CEO of Braincube, a company focused on AI In manufacturing. This episode is sponsored by Braincube.
For more information on sponsorship opportunities, visit emerj.com/advertise.
Although the insurance industry doesn't get as much press about its use of AI as banking, the AI applications large insurance carriers are developing are no less transformative to core processes.
This week, we speak with Tom Harrington, the head of the insurance wing at Pegasystems. Tom talks about how automation and AI are making their way into different insurance processes today and how they will change the way employees at large insurance carriers work.
If you're interested in discovering best practices for AI adoption and deployment, consider joining our Emerj Plus membership at emerj.com/plus.
Supply chains are frozen, teams are working remote, and sales cycles are unpredictable.
This week, we interview Paul Noble, CEO of Verusen, an AI-enabled logistics company. Paul discusses the impact of AI on supply chain and logistics and the new AI capabilities that will be all the more relevant in a post-coronavirus world.
Paul also reviews some of the key themes from our AI Business Continuity Action Plan, which comes complimentary with Emerj Plus, including critical ideas about how business leaders can make their business disaster proof. Learn more about the report and Emerj Plus at emerj.com/ap1.
This week, we speak with Liga Semane, Policy Advisor at the European Banking Federation, about how tech priorities for business leaders in financial services are shifting right now because of the coronavirus crisis.
Liga shares some of her best ideas about business continuity and risk, as well as some of her experience witnessing the reaction from global European banks and their priority shifts in AI projects and initiatives.
This is one of dozens of interviews we've put together for our latest report, the AI Business Continuity Action Plan. It will eventually be offered for sale, but we are currently giving it away free with a subscription to Emerj Plus. Learn more and get the report at emerj.com/ap1.
In this episode, we speak to Saurabh Suri, CIO and managing partner at CerraCap Ventures, about building AI products for the enterprise. Saurabh discusses what he's seen work and not work across his portfolio of AI investments when it comes to their interface with the enterprise.
We talk about the challenges that come with not only building a product but actually deploying it in the enterprise.
If you want to learn more about how we discover which you can do so at emerj.com/aiol
When it comes to applying AI in the enterprise, it's useful to get the perspectives of companies that have bought AI products before. But it's also useful to get the perspective of companies that have sold AI. They have an idea of what it's like when a company buys AI for the wrong reasons and when a company buys AI for the right reasons.
This week we speak with Don Vadakan, Head of Sales at Fractal Analytics. He gives his advice for vendors and service providers that are selling AI in the enterprise, including how to attract attention from potential buyers the right way. His advice is also applicable to enterprise leaders thinking about working with vendors.
If you're selling AI into the enterprise, be sure to download our B2B AI Lead Generation Guide at emerj.com/b2b1
This week, we interview Marsal Gavalda, Head of Machine Learning at Square. Marsal gives his take on how to leverage AI for competitive advantage.
Specifically, he talks about the elements of culture and teams. If you want to to build a company culture in which teams can leverage AI in a nimble fashion and wield it in different areas of the business, Marsal's advice will be useful.
If you're looking to get started with AI at your company, download our Beginning With AI Guide at emerj.com/beg1.
This week on the newly rebranded AI in Business Podcast, we speak with Rashida Hodge, VP, Insurance Industry at IBM, about buying and selling AI in the enterprise.
If you are someone at a big company looking to buy AI, you're going to learn a lot about what to do and what not to do in this episode.
If you're looking to sell AI to the enterprise, you will learn how to avoid wasting time and money without gaining traction in the enterptise.
If you are selling AI, be sure to download our B2B AI Lead Generation Guide, a 7-page PDF put together for vendors at emerj.com/b2b1.
We are changing the name of our podcast to AI in Business. In this episode, Dan explains why, talks about what's new at Emerj, and discusses some of the feedback we've received from our listeners.
This week, we dive into how AI is evolving personalization as we now know it. Brian Walker is Chief Strategy Officer at Bloomreach. He speaks with us about how Personalization works today in retail and how it will work tomorrow. He also discusses how AI can add additional context to the user's experience and how it can allow companies to make stronger calls to action.
If you're interested in more AI use-cases in retail, be sure to download our AI in Retail Executive Cheat Sheet at emerj.com/ret1.
In this special bonus episode of the podcast, Emerj spoke with Dileep George, co-founder of AI company Vicarious, which has raised over $100 million in venture funding, for Kisaco Research’s Brain Inspired Computing Congress 2020, which takes place April 21 – 22 in Milpitas, California
We spoke with Dileep about the unique requirements and considerations for adopting AI in robotics use-cases, as well as where AI-enabled robotics will play a role in business in the new decade.
This week, we explore a novel use-case of AI in marketing: copywriting. Can AI write a better email subject line or social media post than a human being? Sometimes, the answer is yes.
We interview Parry Malm, CEO of Phrasee, an AI company that got its start optimizing email subject lines with AI. Parry speaks with us about this particular AI capability and how it will impact the future of marketing.
If you have an interest in discovering more about the AI use-cases in your industry, watch the 2-minute video about our AI Opportunity Landscape Service at emerj.com/aiol.
On this special bonus episode of the podcast, we spoke with Victoria Rege, Director of Alliances & Strategic Partnerships and Graphcore, for Kisaco Research's AI Hardware Summit in Europe, which takes place October 29 - 30th in Munich, Germany.
We discuss the current challenges enterprises are facing in adopting and using AI hardware. We then project where AI hardware may find a home in business in the new decade.
Personalization is an area that is going to move fastest in retail and will spin out into other industries from there. This week, we interview the CTO of a company that does exactly that: Tyler Foster of Evolv.ai. Tyler gives his perspective on what personalization can do today and where AI will make its way into the future of retail.
Download our AI in Retail Executive Cheat Sheet, a short collection of AI use-cases in retail and a rundown of AI-related terms in retail at emerj.com/ret1.
This week, we're continuing our month-long focus on AI use-cases in retail and eCommerce. Our guest this week is Mahmoud Arram, CTO and Founder of Bluecore. Mahmoud's focus is on the marketing and advertising side of retail.
He provides an interesting perspective on how AI could evolve marketing processes in terms of getting the right message in front of the right person at the right time.
Be sure to download our AI in Retail Executive Cheat Sheet, where we lay out the basic use-cases of AI in retail in eCommerce and define key AI-related terms in the industry at emerj.com/ret1.
This month on AI in Industry, we focus on AI in retail and eCommerce. Our first guest is Guru Hariharan, CEO of CommerceIQ. Guru shares his thoughts on the current impact of AI on retail and eCommerce today, including in sales, marketing, and supply chain.
We've recently put together our AI in Retail Executive Cheat Sheet, an overview of prominent AI use-cases in retail and eCommerce. Also included is a glossary of key terms businesspeople in retail need to know to navigate the AI conversation in their industry. Download it at emerj.com/ret1.
Our guest this week is Dr. Charles Martin of Calculation Consulting, a bit of a mentor of mine when it comes to AI in the enterprise. He understands a lot of the ups and downs of what it takes to apply AI in business.
He speaks with us this week about how to determine your vendor needs. Are you looking for a consultant? A specific vendor? Are you looking to partner with a vendor?
Figuring this out right off the bat might be the easiest way to save money and time.
If you're picking a vendor for your company or for your clients, be sure to download our free pdf guide on the topic: 5 Ways to Select the Right AI Vendor
Our guest this week is Gaurav Srivastava, CTO at Fareye, an AI company in the logistics space. Gaurav talks about which elements of the existing procurement procedures in the enterprise can stick around and which need to be different when it comes to shopping for AI and looking for new AI solutions.
He talks about demos, pilots, social proof, and troubleshooting some of the potential issues that come up when looking for the right AI vendor.
If you haven't already downloaded our PDF guide, 5 Ways to Select the Right AI vendor, you can do so at emerj.com/buy1
We continue our theme this month on buying and procuring AI in the enterprise with this week's guest: Shane Zabel, Head of AI at Raytheon. Shane has seen plenty of internal AI applications and heard plenty of AI vendor pitches. As such, he has some simple and succinct advice for picking an AI vendor that he shares with us on this episode of AI in Industry.
If you haven't already, download our free PDF guide: 5 Keys to Selecting the Right AI Vendor at emerj.com/buy1
It's our first AI in Industry episode of the decade. January's theme is on buying and procuring AI in the enterprise.
Many of our readers at Emerj want to know which vendors and use-cases are legitimate and which are riding the hype. When it comes to picking an AI vendor, that knowledge is critical.
Our guest this week is Pranay Agrawal, CEO of Fractal Analytics. Pranay shares some of his advice on the technical and cultural considerations for finding the right vendor partner.
If you're interested in learning more about working with an AI vendor, we've created a quick PDF guide called 5 Keys to Selecting the Right AI Vendor, which you can download at emerj.com/buy1.
We've touched on a lot of different kinds of expertise in this month-long series on using AI for competitive advantage. We end things by speaking with someone from the startup world: Adam Oliner, Head of Machine Learning at Slack. He speaks with us about building a data moat around your business when it comes to building AI solutions in-house. He puts the overall theme for leveraging AI for competitive advantage very succinctly.
If you're just getting started with AI in your business, be sure to download our succinct guide to adopting AI, Beginning With AI, at emerj.com/beg1.
This week, we speak with Ylan Kazi, VP of Data Science and Machine Learning at UnitedHealth Group.
Ylan speaks with us about his take on how AI can be leveraged for competitive advantage, including how to build a "flywheel" of data and build on critical capabilities for adopting AI in the enterprise.
If you're at an existing business and looking to get started with AI, be sure to download our free report, Beginning With AI, at emerj.com/beg1.
This week, we speak with Abigail Hing Wen, Co-Chair of the Fairness, Transparency, and Accountability Expert Group, Machine Learning Transparency. We discuss which AI capabilities actually have the most traction in terms of the science. Most importantly, Abigail talks about how business leaders can wield these promising capabilities in their industries.
If you're interested in getting started with AI capabilities, be sure to download ur free Beginning with AI report at emerj.com/beg1.
This week on AI in Industry we continue our theme of focusing on "The Competitive Advantage of AI." Babak Hodjat shares his insights about critical decision-points within a business, and how to leverage them to find high-ROI AI opportunities.
Download our free PDF report titled "3 Ways to Discovery AI Trends in Any Sector": emerj.com/t3
This month's theme is on using AI for a competitive advantage. We speak first with Monika Wilczak, Managing Director of AI at EY. Monika speaks to us about how large companies can start to get an edge over the competition by leveraging AI, emphasizing how companies can get started with gaining that advantage.
If you're looking for areas of AI opportunity, be sure to download our "3 Ways to Discover AI Trends in Any Sector" report by going to emerj.com/t3.
It's the final week of our month-long series on planning your corporate AI strategy. This week we speak with Shane Zabel, Head of AI at Raytheon. Shane talks to us about the phases of building an AI strategy. What are the steps? He discusses the importance of finding an AI pioneer at a company who can build some initial ideas of what AI use-cases could be viable at the company.
If you're in the process of analyzing AI use-cases for your company or clients, we created a guide for this exact topic. Learn more about it at emerj.com/t3.
This week, we speak with Scott Nowson, AI Lead at PWC Middle East, about the critical capabilities nontechnical business people need to understand to be able to advance their career and apply AI in their industry even if their company hasn't started with AI yet.
Scott has an uncanny ability to convey business lessons on AI, and he's one of the few people who got our full Getting Started with AI report before today's formal launch.
The report is finally open, and in it, listeners can find the must-know knowledge that will allow you to take your AI interest and turn it into real career opportunity without learning any code. Listeners can learn more about it at emerj.com/a1
In this episode, we speak with Adam Bonnifield, VP of AI at Airbus, one of the youngest executives at the firm. He talks about how to think about starting a corporate AI strategy, which for him entails beginning with the data assets.
Adam thinks through how to take account of those assets and what kinds of people need to be part of the conversation to unlock the most fruitful AI applications in an established company.
This is a special bonus episode of AI in Industry about advancing your career in the era of AI, specifically for non-technical professionals.
If you don't want to learn to code but still make yourself tremendously valuable in the era of AI, this episode is for you. We put together a report on this topic that will be coming out this month, all about getting started with AI in business for nontechnical professionals. Interested listeners can go to emerj.com/c1 to learn more.
This week, we have Germán Sanchis-Trilles on the podcast. He's one of our technical advisors, well-schooled in natural language processing, and extremely experienced in applying AI in business. In this episode, he reviews some of the key themes from our upcoming report, including critical ideas about how nontechnical professionals can involve themselves in AI while at work.
This week, we speak with Carlos Escapa, Global AI and ML Practice Leader for Amazon Web Services. Carlos speaks with us this week about starting an AI strategy with a more practical approach. Instead of thinking about how to radically reshape a key part of your business with AI or use AI for AI's sake, Carlos talks about instead thinking about where AI fits in with what your business is already doing.
He provides some thought experiments to run through for thinking through this and how to get started with AI.
Last month, we focused on advancing your career in the age of AI, and this month we have a new theme: building your corporate AI strategy. At Emerj, much of our work in the public and private sector is in building an AI strategy and giving organizations data on where the ROI is in the AI world.
This week, we speak with Ian Wilson, former Head of AI at HSBC and a research advisor for our banking work. He has rare experience applying AI strategically at one of the largest banks in the world, and I think he is just the person to start off this month's theme. Ian talks about beginning to plan your AI strategy.
This is our final episode in our series on advancing your career in the era of AI this month. We had more Linkedin messages on this theme than any we've done before, and it got me excited to think about what we could do with this kind of series in the future.
In this episode, we distill the insights from this month's series with insights from our broad catalog of interviews with AI-minded executives throughout the many years doing this podcast.
We also cover three AI-related career roles that do not involve coding.
We continue our theme on advancing your career in the era of AI. This week, we speak with another AI lead from a gigantic IT services firm: Cognizant. Bret Greenstein is Head of AI at Cognizant, and he talks about what folks who think about AI in terms of strategic direction, project management, etc., have in common.
Brett also discusses how non-technical folks can think about AI in order to take on leadership roles in AI projects, including having a firm understanding of what is possible with AI in their industry.
This week, we speak with Sriram Ramanathan, CTO at Genpact, about what the important non-technical roles exist for making AI work in the enterprise. Everything from project management to quality control and beyond, Sriram lists out areas where nontechnical experts play a critical role in bringing AI to life.
If you're listening to this podcast, you at least have an interest in leveraging AI in the enterprise. But how do you take that interest and use it to move up in your company and advance your career?
In this week's episode, we speak with Muriël Serrurier Schepper, who worked with AI at Rabobank and Shell managing advanced analytics projects. She now has her own AI consulting firm.
Muriël speaks with us about her experience using her prior skillset to enter the world of AI, take the reigns of exciting AI projects, and open up more career opportunities for herself.
In October, we're focusing on how non-technical employees can still gain an edge in the era of AI even if they've never learned any code. I can't think of a better guest off the bat than our quest this week: Wijay Wijayakumaran, Chief Architect of Machine Learning and AI at IBM Australia.
Wijay emphasizes how much stock he places in the critical importance of subject-matter experts and business leaders with domain knowledge. He also runs through possible career opportunities that non-technical employees can look for in the era of AI and questions they can ask to get more involved with AI projects at their organization.
This is the final episode of our series on the ROI of AI. This week is the monthly analyst call, in which Emerj CEO Daniel Faggella breaks down some of the key themes from this month's interviews. In particular, Daniel puts a large emphasis on connecting the dots between near-term and long-term ROI.
A lot of these themes and core questions are discussed and answered for clients of our AI Product Development Roadmap services.
This week, we spoke with David Carmona, the GM of Artificial Intelligence at Microsoft, about his approach to AI ROI with the enterprise clients of Microsoft. The biggest takeaway from this episode comes right at the beginning. David talks about how to think about artificial intelligence ROI in the long-term and the near-term.
That is to say, how are we going to see a relatively near-term return with AI that might be able to improve our condition while keeping in mind the longer-term disruption in our industry?
It's clear that there's a revolution in how artificial intelligence is done with neural networks as opposed to the old school systems of the '80s and the '90s. It's clear that hardware is beginning to evolve, and it's also quite clear that the way that we power these hardware systems is going to have to change.
GPUs and AI hardware are tremendously power-intensive, and this week we speak with Robert Gendron of Vicor Corporation, a company focused on powering AI systems. Vicor is in partnership with Kisaco Research, which is putting on the 2019 AI Hardware Summit September 17 and 18 in Mountain View, California.
Robert speaks about why the way that they are powered needs to be different than traditional manufacturing equipment. He also discusses how the powering of these systems need to work if businesses want to reduce energy costs and be as efficient as they can when it comes to AI.
This week, we have a bonus episode.
We spoke with Jonathan Ross, CEO and Founder of Groq, an AI hardware company, about software-defined computing. Groq is in partnership with the AI Hardware Summit happening in Mountain View, California on September 17 and 18.
Software-defined computing is a way of thinking about how computing can be optimized for machine learning functions. Ross talks about some of the pros and cons of GPUs and where software-defined computing might make its way into future machine learning applications.
This week, we speak with Dr. Charles Martin of Calculation Consulting. He's a bit of a mentor of mine when it comes to AI knowledge. Charles speaks to us about the pitfalls in getting to ROI, particularly the cultural elements within enterprises that make it so hard to get a return from AI projects.
Charles and I tend to go off in a variety of directions when we talk—he's an animated guy—so be prepared for that. But I think this is an awfully fun episode of the podcast.
For more on the fundamentals of getting started with AI in business, learn more about our newest report: Getting Started with AI: Proven Best Practices of Adoption.
We have a bonus episode this week. We spoke to Moe Tanabian, General Manager of Intelligent Devices at Microsoft, who is speaking at the AI Hardware Summit in Mountain View, California on September 17 and 18.
Tanabian discusses how to think about and reframe business problems to make them more accessible for AI, as well as AI at the edge, which involves doing AI processing on individual devices rather than in the cloud.
The edge could open up new potential for business problems to be solved with AI. Tanabian also provides representative use cases of intelligent devices.
This month, we focus on the ROI of AI, and our guest this week is Sankar Narayanan, Chief Practice Officer at Fractal Analytics, a global AI & Analytics firm headquartered in New York City.
In this episode, Narayanan discusses how to measure the ROI of AI in ways that aren't just financial return. In addition, he provides examples from his hands-on experience implementing AI to provide business leaders with ways of thinking about success when it comes to AI projects.
For more on measuring the ROI of AI, learn about our newest report Getting Started With AI: Proven Best Practices of AI Adoption.
This is the final episode in the month-long series on getting started with AI. In this episode, Emerj CEO Daniel Faggella breaks down the key insights from all four of this month's interviews, distilling them into core best-practices for getting started with artificial intelligence in business. In addition, Daniel discusses insights from our newest report:
Getting Started with AI: Proven Best-Practices for AI Adoption
This week we interview Jan Kautz, Vice President of Learning and Perception Research at NVIDIA. Kautz talks about what people underestimate when they start an AI initiative. In addition, he emphasizes the critical value of data storage.
Kautz dives into the importance of getting started with an AI project when you already have a barometer of success. Essentially, he talks about why it's important to select a first AI project in an area where you already have a way of measuring success.
Learn more about AI adoption in our full report, Getting Started With AI: Proven Best Practices for AI Adoption.
This week, we speak with Jan Neumann, Senior Director of Applied AI Research at Comcast. Comcast is an enormous company; it has lots of data, lots of application areas for AI, and a lot of opportunity for confusion about AI. As such, Neumann speaks with us about scaling AI expertise in the enterprise.
Neumann talks about a very strong distinction between software and AI and how to think through problems to determine whether or not it's a software problem or an AI problem.
He also talks about scaling the problem-solving abilities of business experts in the organization. Lastly, Neumann talks about his ideas for how to determine a first AI initiative.
This week we speak with David Carmona, General Manager of AI at Microsoft. Carmona discusses how redefining a business process is a very different kind of AI adoption project than working on something that is horizontal.
He discusses how to attack both of these scenarios, which to handle first, and why.
In addition, Carmona talks about proprietary data and things that are close to your own IP. How do you take advantage of the real strategic data value within your own organization? How should you be thinking about that differently? Carmona poses three different questions to determine where those valuable opportunities are for you.
It's the first episode of the new style of AI in Industry, in which we spend a month at a time on a specific theme. This month is AI adoption.
This week we speak with Vlad Sejnoha at Glasswing Ventures, an AI-focused VC firm. Sejnoha spent many years as the CTO at Nuance Communications. He talks to us about the table stakes AI insights the C-suite have to know and the dangers of relying entirely on consulting firms and vendor companies for these insights.
In addition, Sejnoha discusses the need for a "BS-o-meter" for when someone is making a claim about AI to determine if it's real or hype.
Lastly, Sejnoha discusses how he would go about choosing a first AI project.
This episode of the AI in industry podcast is all about where the rubber meets the road for AI in Insurance. We interview Jerry Overton, Head of AI and a Fellow at DXC Technology. He speaks to us about his experience implementing AI in insurance, about where there's real traction with AI in insurance, and where there's only hype. In particular, Overton discusses how anomaly detection technology is a natural fit for AI in the insurance sector.
This is the last episode of its kind on AI in Industry. Starting next Tuesday, we'll be kicking off a new format for the show. Each month, we'll focus on a specific theme, and in August, we're focusing on AI adoption in the enterprise. We hope you'll join us.
When we polled our audience about what they were interested in, the most selected response was "business intelligence." As a follow-up, we asked them what business intelligence meant to them, and their responses boiled down to anything about understanding the data businesses are already collecting.
That kind of broad definition gets to the heart of the confusion surrounding the differences between business intelligence and artificial intelligence. The line is starting to get blurry.
Our guest this week is Elif Tutuk, Senior Director at Qlik. Tutuk talks about how business intelligence is evolving and how we might define it now that a lot of BI is becoming AI. Tutuk discusses where AI is making its way into business intelligence and what that might enable for businesses.
Read our comprehensive definition of machine learning for business leaders here: https://bit.ly/2Ya2NxK
This week, we interview Jay Budzik, CTO at ZestFinance, about where AI applies to the world of auto-lending. We speak with Budzik about how underwriting and credit scoring is evolving as a result of advances in machine learning.
In addition, we talk about how companies might solve the "black box" of machine learning in finance, particularly how ZestFinance is focusing on transparent models. The financial sector has to contend with complex regulations that prevent certain information from being leveraged in credit models. It can be near impossible to determine how machine learning comes to the conclusions it does, but ZestFinance claims their software in part solves this problem.
Some say that the competitive dynamics between the US and China in terms of AI are overblown, but there's a lot of truth to them. The US has access to more of the base research, but China can orchestrate various organizations (corporations, government bodies) and secure government funding.
That said, very few people talk about K-12 education and what countries are doing to prepare their future workforce for AI. David Touretzky talks to us about just that. He is a research professor in the Computer Science Department and the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition at Carnegie Mellon University. He's heading up an initiative for K-12 education, and he discusses what countries should be doing to secure their positions and technological leadership in the 21st century.
While AI is certainly finding its footing in finance, we still find most of our subscribers are in a phase where they're trying to catch up in terms of data and data infrastructure and figure out where there's real traction with AI in finance: in banking, investing, or insurance.
In this episode, we explore AI use-cases in a number of these areas of the financial industry. We interview Carlos Pazos and Anwar Ghauche at Spark Cognition about how to maximize a smaller data science team at a financial institution, how AI and alternative data is being used for quantamental investing, and how AI is automating some financing and underwriting processes.
Building an AI strategy - there's hardly anything more vague and open-ended than that. Business leaders have probably gotten the idea that they should develop one, but where should they start? That's what we talk about this week with Charles Martin, PhD.
Martin talks about how to go about starting an AI strategy, what to avoid, and the challenges and struggles of applying AI at existing businesses. Also, Martin discusses what business leaders should ignore and what business leaders should tune into and prioritize for an effective AI strategy that will propel them toward success in the coming years.
One of the best conversations I ever had on the topic of AI business strategy on the podcast was with the guest I've brought back this week: Madhu Shekar, Head of Digital Innovation for Amazon Internet Services in Bangalore.
I wanted to do a deeper session with Madhu, who has seen a lot of companies go from no AI to beginning with AI, about where to start with AI adoption. How do companies build the expertise and experience with AI that lets them scale it to their organization? He also talks about how to prepare realistically for AI, including data requirements, integration times, and more.
As it turns out, often times terms like predictive analytics and data science are used incorrectly. By the end of this podcast, you'll have greater clarity on five potentially vague AI and data science terms that are sometimes overused in conversations about AI in the enterprise. This week, I introduce you to German Sanches, who focused his PhD on NLP and has done a lot of AI work in business. He also helps us with our research projects. This episode is all about addressing use-cases in reference to five terms that a lot of folks get wrong.
This week, we interview Arnab Kumar, Founding Manager, Frontier Technologies for the NITI Aayog, the wing of the Indian government focused on rolling out AI into areas like healthcare and agriculture.
In this episode, we talk about critical factors for applying AI at the national level, such as where to begin applying AI and what the low-hanging fruit is for gaining traction, leverage, and data assets that are going to transfer elsewhere.
We also talk about how governments, much like enterprises, need a future vision for critical capabilities they're going to enable with AI.
Finally, Kumar discusses what he thinks are the most transferable lessons for the enterprise from his experience building out a national AI strategy.
Erin Knealy is the portfolio manager of the cybersecurity division of the Us Department of Homeland Security. She is the interface between the US government and the startup and tech ecosystems. We speak with her about transferable lessons from the AI use-cases in the public sector into the private sector. How does an existing organization pick the right first AI project? How should look through a lens of opportunity when it comes to AI? In this episode, we discuss how these lessons learned in the public sector can apply to the private sector.
It's curious to see how much more there is of sensor tech and internet of things than there was 18 months ago. This week, we speak with Cormac Driver, PhD and Head of Product Engineering at Temboo, an IoT vendor.
We talk about how to spot AI and IoT opportunity where sensors and equipment in the physical world can actually deliver ROI and drive value for an enterprise. In addition, Cormac discusses how to get the most out of an IoT project and what's involved in terms of data and infrastructure. Finally, I ask Cormac in what sector IoT will become ubiquitous first.
There's an entire artificial intelligence ecosystem for enterprise search. Most of this is in a purely digital world. Most vendors help with a layer of AI-enabled search that understands terms or phrases and is able to return the results or answers to questions that someone types in. But the problem is compounded when it comes to searching the physical world.
That is the topic of this week's episode of AI in Industry. Our guest is Anke Conzelmann, Director of Product Management at Iron Mountain. Iron Mountain is a four-billion-dollar physical and digital storage company based in the Boston area. They handle the records of some of the largest financial, health care, and retail brands around the world. Conzelmann speaks with us about the future potential of artificial intelligence for search within an enterprise, not just of digital files, but across formats.
The AI in Industry podcast is all about transferrable lessons. Today we speak with Andrew Byrnes, an investment director at Comet Labs in San Francisco about the competitive edge with AI. What does it look like when companies adopt AI in a way that gives them a competitive advantage? Byrnes breaks down the idea into two categories: automation and augmentation.
We did a lot of focus on healthcare for the World Bank, and we presented a lot of that research in South Africa. When I was there, I interviewed DataProft cofounder Frans Cronje about the intersection of AI and manufacturing.
We talk about what's possible with AI in manufacturing today and just how instrumented and challenging it is to add a layer of AI insight into a manufacturing environment. This is much harder than a lot of other domains where data is maybe more accessible, and in some cases it's also higher risk.
This week we speak with founder and CEO of Aidoc, Elad Walach, about the challenges of adopting AI to become part of a workflow in healthcare. We speak to him about what it is that makes it so challenging to get these tools to become part of the process of treating patients.
This week, we speak with arguably one of the best-known folks in the domain of neural networks: Jurgen Schmidhuber. He's working on a lot of different applications now in heavy industry, self-driving cars, and other spaces.
We talk to him about the future of manufacturing and more broadly, how machines and robots learn. Schmidhuber uses the analogy of a baby learning about the world around it. He has a lot of interesting perspectives on how the general progression of making machines more intelligent will affect other industries outside of where AI is arguably best known today: consumer tech and advertising.
If you're in the manufacturing space, this will be an interesting interview to tune into. If you're just interested in what the next phase in AI might be like, I think Schmidhuber actually frames it pretty succinctly.
The AI In Industry podcast is often conducted over Skype, and this week's guest happens to be one of its early developers. Jaan Tallinn is recognized as sort of one of the technical leads behind Skype as a platform. I met Jaan while we were both doing round table sessions at the World Government Summit, and in this episode, I talk to Tallinn about a topic that we often don't get to cover on the podcast: the consequences of artificial general intelligence. Where's this going to take humanity in the next hundred years?
In this episode of the AI in Industry podcast, we speak with Marshall Choy, VP of Product at SambaNova, an AI hardware firm based in the Bay Area. SambaNova was founded by a number of Oracle and Sun Micro Systems alumni. We speak with Choy on two fundamental questions:
SambaNova is one of many firms that's going to be advertising at the Kisaco Research AI Hardware Summit in Beijing June 4th and 5th.
Danny Lange heads up the AI efforts at Unity, one of the better-known firms in terms of simulations and computer graphics. They work in several different industries, but this week we speak mostly about automotive.
This is a man that has been in the AI game since before it was cool, and now he is working on some cutting-edge projects with Unity. In this interview, we speak with Danny about where simulated environments are becoming valuable.
We hear about simulations mostly in the context of video games, and of course, Unity does apply their technology in that domain, but what about a space like automotive, where navigating within an environment is important?
Certainly we need to have physical cars on the road to drink in data from physical roads and physical environments, but is it possible to splinter some digital cars into digital environments that model the physics, that model the roads, that model the same number of pedestrian risks, and see how well they succeed in all these different environments with no real physical risk of damaging an actual vehicle or an actual person on the road?
As it turns out, there's value there.
Have you ever been frustrated with how Alexa or Siri don't always understand your verbal requests? If so, then you already understand the problem that our guest this struggles with. He's Tom Livine, co-founder and CEO of Verbit.ai.
Verbit is a company that focuses on AI for transcription. They use a combination of machine learning and human experts to transcribe audio in different accents, in different noise environments, with different diction, to give people more accurate results and hopefully help the process scale.
In this episode, Levine explains five different factors that go into getting transcription right and getting AI to be able to aid in the process. In addition, Tom talks about some of the critical factors for where transcription will come into play in terms of bringing value into business.
Have you ever been frustrated with how Alexa or Siri don't always understand your verbal requests? If so, then you already understand the problem that our guest this struggles with. He's Tom Livine, co-founder and CEO of Verbit.ai.
Verbit is a company that focuses on AI for transcription. They use a combination of machine learning and human experts to transcribe audio in different accents, in different noise environments, with different diction, to give people more accurate results and hopefully help the process scale.
In this episode, Levine explains five different factors that go into getting transcription right and getting AI to be able to aid in the process. In addition, Tom talks about some of the critical factors for where transcription will come into play in terms of bringing value into business.
I hope that by the end of this episode of the AI in Industry podcast, you'll not only be able to hire better data scientists who will be a fit for your business problems and build better data science teams, but also pick the AI applications and use cases that you should bring into your business versus those that you shouldn't.
This episode, we interview Brooke Wenig, the machine learning practice lead at Databricks. Databricks was founded by the folks who created Apache Spark. Those of you who are technically savvy with AI will be familiar with Apache Spark as an open source language for artificial intelligence and distributed computing.
Wenig works with a lot of companies with Databricks. Databricks is now close to 700 folks and helps implement AI applications into, oftentimes, large enterprise environments. Wenig speaks with us this week about what to look for in an actual data scientist and how to find data science folks with the right skills to be able to communicate to business people, not just to work with models. What should people be capable of; how should they be capable of thinking? Hopefully, some of you will have better interview questions by the end of this podcast.
In addition, we ask Brooke about what the value of covering the cutting edge applications of AI is, looking at what's working in industry. How does that help us in our own business make better decisions?
Read the full article on Emerj.com
If you want to understand the international competitive dynamics of artificial intelligence, particularly the US and China, starting with the United Nations is probably not a bad move. This week, I spoke with Irakli Beridze, the head of the Center for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics at the UN, particularly under the wing called UNICRI, the organization's crime and justice division.
Irakli was kind enough to invite me to speak at a recent event in Shanghai held by the UN and by the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies on national security, and when we were there, we talked a good deal about China's unique AI-related strengths.
I spoke with Irakli about the strengths of the ecosystem in China for artificial intelligence and how that stacks up against the US.
In addition, I asked Irakli about what it's going to look like to encourage more and more multilateral action. In other words, how do we get countries to be on the same page so AI doesn't become an arms race?
Discover how so-called autoML, or automated machine learning, could bring AI to more businesses by allowing users to build AI models faster and cheaper.
Read the full article, where we go into further detail, at Emerj.com. Search for "AutoML and How AI Could Become More Accessible to Businesses"
AI has numerous use cases in legal, from document search to compliance and contract abstraction. This week, we speak with Lars Mahler, Chief Science Officer for LegalSifter, about what's possible with AI for legal departments today and how AI applications for legal teams, such as natural language processing-based contract analysis, work. In addition, Mahler discusses how lawyers at companies and data scientists work together to train machine learning algorithms.
He provides some insight into how a company has to make its way into the legal space and the challenges of training an NLP system and collecting data for it.
Read more about AI in legal at Emerj.com
There's a lot of venture money pouring into artificial intelligence in healthcare. From pharma to hospitals and beyond, the potential applications in healthcare are promising.
Late last year, we spoke for The World Bank about our proprietary AI in healthcare research, and speaking with governments, it's clear that there are hurdles that healthcare companies have to overcome to access data for training AI systems.
Broadly, most of the folks that we speak with who are innovating in AI and healthcare are frustrated with how hard it is to streamline the data to make use of it for applications such as diagnosing illnesses.
But why is that? That's a question that we asked our guest this week.
Our guest this week is Zhigang Chen, and he speaks about why this problem exists and how it can be overcome. In addition, Chen talks about the AI ecosystem in China and how it differs from Silicon Valley.
Saying that your company does artificial intelligence might still have a slightly cool ring to it if you're talking to one of your peers at a conference, but it doesn't mean very much to venture capitalists today, who've been battered with machine learning and artificial intelligence in every pitch deck they've seen for the last three or four years.
I wondered, from a venture capitalist perspective, what makes an AI company's value proposition actually strong? What is it that makes an AI startup actually seem like a company that maybe could use AI to really win in the market? Not just to be another company that says they're going to do it or says they are doing it, but where can it actually provide enough of that competitive edge to make a VC want to pull the trigger?
Getting a grasp of the answer to that question seems pretty critical.
This week, we speak with Tim Chang, partner at Mayfield Fund in Menlo Park, California. Chang and I both spoke at the Trans Tech Conference, held every year in Silicon Valley, focused on wellness and health-related technologies.
Chang talks about what it is about an AI company's pitch, product, and market that actually makes AI an enhancement to the business in a way that's compelling to someone who wants to invest potentially millions and millions of dollars.
If one wants to start a general search engine, they're going to have to compete with Google. If one wants to start a general eCommerce platform, they'll have to compete with Amazon. But the same dynamics play out on a smaller scale. There are going to be some established players, some big tech giant, be it IBM or someone else, who already has a product.
When it comes to getting a new AI product out to market, how does one compete with the big guys?
This week's guest is Mike Edelhart, who runs Social Starts and Joyance Partners, seed stage investment firms out in the Bay Area. Edelhart has invested in a number of companies, and in this episode, we get his perspective on not only the patterns among successful AI startups and where AI plays a role in their competitive strategy, but what a "land and expand" strategy looks like for a new product that already has larger and more established competitors.
A lot of AI in the press is CMOs or marketing people talking about what a company can do in a way that really is aspirational. They're speaking about what they can do, but in reality, the things that they're talking about, the capabilities won't be unlocked for maybe a year or more. These are just things on the technology road map, but people speak about them like they exist now.
This week, we speak with Abinash Tripathy, founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Help Shift. They've raised upwards of $40,000,000 in the last six years to apply artificial intelligence to the future of customer service, and we speak about the hard challenges of chatbots and conversational interfaces, as well as how long it's going to be until those are actually robust. This in opposition to how people at large companies might put out a press release touting their own chatbots that simply aren't capable of doing what they say they can to any meaningful degree.
We also talk about where AI can augment and make a difference in existing customer service workflows. Even if we can't have all-capable chatbots to handle banking or insurance or eCommerce questions from people, where can AI easily slide it's way in and actually make a difference today? In this episode, we draw a firm line on where the technology currently stands.
Overall, though, this episode is about the challenges of actually innovating in AI. We talk about why it really is the big companies that do a lot of the actual cutting edge breakthroughs of AI and why others are going to have to license those their technologies from large firms like Google and Amazon.
We also discuss why companies maybe need to have a realistic expectation about where they can apply AI, as well as why actually innovating and coming up with new AI capabilities on their own might just be wholly unreasonable given their data, their company culture, and their density of AI talent.
Read the full interview article on emerj.com
This week we interview a leader at Facebook. Jason Sundram is the lead of World.ai at Facebook, which is one of their efforts to work with public data around roads and population and other projects of that kind. But Sundram is also highly involved in the Boston office here, where Facebook will soon have around 650 employees. Many of them focus on data science and artificial intelligence.
Last time we talked about personalization in AI with Hussein Mehanna, who was Director of Engineering at Facebook at the time. This time, we'll talk about two topics that all established sectors need to be focusing on:
For business leaders who are considering hiring data science talent or thinking about how to start with AI in terms of making a difference in their bottom line, this should be a useful episode.
One of the promises of artificial intelligence is aiding humans in making smarter decisions. Whether it's in pharma, retail, or eCommerce companies, the idea of being able to pool together streams of data and coax out the insights that would help make the best call for the organization to reach its goals is the promise of artificial intelligence. As it turns out that same dynamic is sort of happening in the public sector where AI is now being used to inform policy.
This week we interview Professor Joan Peckham at the University of Rhode Island. Previously, she was Program Director at the National Science Foundation. PhD in computer science and she runs the Data Science Initiatives at URI. The University of Rhode Island is home to DataSpark, an organization that helps policymakers inform the decisions that they're going to make about the economy, the environment, the opioid crisis, a variety of social issues, based on deeper assessments of the data.
The ability to find objective insights might help policymakers make better decisions about where they allocate budget and what decisions are made. Right now, policymakers are beginning to tune into artificial intelligence as a source of informing their decisions. The same dynamic will likely play out in the C-suite, particularly when the data is actually there.
For more on AI in government, visit Emerj.com
Sales is a big part of any sort of B2B firm. We speak this week with Micha Breakstone, co-founder of Chorus.ai. He holds a PhD in Cognitive Sciences from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and prior to starting his own company, he studied for a few years at MIT and was working on NLP at Intel.
He speaks with us this week about where AI is being applied to sales, answering questions such as:
This is a nascent domain. There are very few companies are actively leveraging artificial intelligence in their sales process, but in the two years ahead we'll likely see more and more firms who are.
For more information on Ai for sales enablement, go to emerj.com
Close to a year ago, we had an interview here on the AI in Industry podcast with Jeremy Barnes of Element AI. We visited their headquarters in Montreal, and we'd interviewed Yoshua Bengio a couple years before that. Jeremy had brought up one point in that interview that I really like and that transfers its way into this conversation, which is that businesses should think not just about being more efficient with artificial intelligence, but places where they can actually make a real difference in the bottom line for the company beyond shaving off some savings.
In this week's episode, we focus on compliance and analyzing contracts. At first, one might think about such an application in terms of cost savings. We speak with Shiv Vaithyanathan, an IBM fellow and Chief Architect of Watson Compare & Comply, about the following:
Episode Summary: Recently, we were called upon by the World Bank to do a good deal of research on the potential of applying artificial intelligence to health data in the developing world. Diagnostics was a very big focus of the information that we presented. It appears as though diagnostics is an area of great promise with regards to AI, and that's what we're focusing on in this episode the podcast.
This week, we speak with Yufeng Deng, Chief Scientist of Infervision, a company that focuses on computer vision for medical diagnostics. We speak with Deng about the expanding capability of machine vision, including what kind of data one needs to collect and what is now possible with the technology.
In addition, Deng also speaks about how Infovision found a business problem to solve using AI, and in that he provides transferable lessons to business leaders in a variety of industries.
Artificial intelligence plays a role in the future of retail in terms of a deeper understanding of customers going beyond intuition. This week, we speak with Pedro Alves, CEO of a company called Ople, based in San Francisco. Alves was previously the Head of Data Science at a number of companies in addition to being Director of Data Science at Sentient Technologies, one of the best known AI firms in the Bay Area. Sentient has raised upwards of $200 million.
We talk with Pedro about the future of retail, the future of understanding customers with artificial intelligence. Essentially asking under what circumstances would a retailer need to go beyond intuition in order to inform their understanding and their ability to influence the actions of their customers or their users. In addition to that, Alves talks with us about what has to happen to AI as a technology to become more accessible and within reach of existing enterprises. Knowing now all the points of friction for bringing AI into an existing business, he talks about the transition points that he thinks are going to have to happen over the course of the years ahead in order to make these technologies more accessible to companies.
A lot of machine learning applications in business can be boiled down to some form of decision support. There are big decisions like deciding whether or not to merge or acquire another company, and there might be smaller decisions like whether or not a tumor has enough traits that make it seem like it's worth a surgical procedure or if it's worth leaving alone.
In this particular interview, we talk about the domain of decision support, specifically in tax and accounting. There are few firms that know more about tax and accounting than Ernst & Young, and there are few people at Ernst & Young who know more about artificial intelligence than Sharda Cherwoo. Cherwoo is a partner at EY, and she is also the Intelligent Automation Leader for the Americas division of its tax practice.
Cherwoo talks about where decision support is being influenced by machine learning in accounting and tax today, the initial experimentation traction, and results. She also paints a picture of bigger decisions that might be automatable by machine learning software. The focus of this episode may be on tax and accounting, but here are transferable lessons for business leaders in all industries that revolve around how machine learning can help inform decisions made by human experts.
We spoke with Robert Golladay, General Manager, Europe at CognitiveScale, which offers AI software that helps both wealth advisors personalize insights and identify new opportunities for clients. According to Golladay, AI is being applied to wealth management services in two areas today:
This week, we're going to be talking about the defense sector. We interview Ryan Welch, CEO of Kyndi, a company working on explainable AI. We focus specifically on the unique data challenges of the defense industry, as well as the general use case of AI in defense writ large. Many of the challenges that the defense sector has to deal with transfer to other spaces and sectors. Business leaders that deal with extremely disjointed text information, what is sometimes called "dark data," and information in various languages or different dialects, will be able to resonate with some of the unique challenges talked about in this episode, and maybe even gain some insights for how to handle them.
Read the full interview article on Emerj.com
Whether we're talking about customer service, marketing, or building developer teams, what we try to do on our AI in Industry podcast is bring to bear lessons that are transferable. There are few more transferrable ideas than what makes a company ready to adopt AI. When it comes to the willingness and the ability to integrate AI into a company strategy and to fruitfully adopt the technology to really see an ROI, what do the companies that do so successfully have in common? What do the companies that are not ready or too fearful to do it have in common?
There are probably few companies in the AI vendor space that are aiming to sell AI more ardently into the enterprise than Salesforce, and there are few people that know more about how that process is going than Allison Witherspoon, Senior Director of Product Marketing for Salesforce Einstein, which is their artificial intelligence layer on top of the Salesforce product.
We speak to Witherspoon about the telltale signs of a company that understands the use cases of AI in their industry and that have a good chance of driving value with AI. We also talk about the common qualities of companies that might not ready for I adoption.
Read our full interview article on Sunday at Emerj.com
Episode Summary: This week we talk to Alejandro Giacometti, the data science lead at a company called EDITED, based in London. The company claims to help retailers with inventory optimization, and we speak with Alejandro about how artificial intelligence can be used to search the web for the product clusters and individual products of major retailers to help inform other retailers on what products might be popular.
There are two primary takeaways from this episode. The first is the broad capability of monitoring the competition with artificial intelligence, something that can be applied across industries, not just in retail. The second is that EDITED is generating information from what is freely available on the web, and so it would seem their software doesn't require businesses to integrate it into inventory management systems in order to train the algorithm behind it.
I'm not necessarily lauding the company; I haven't used their product nor read all of their case studies. That said, it's worth noting simply because its approach is fundamentally different than most AI vendors.
Read the full interview article on emerj.com
Some businesses are going to require a sea change in the way that their computation works and the kinds of computing power that they're leveraging to do what they need to do with artificial intelligence. Others might not need an upgrade in hardware in the near term to do what they want to do with AI.
What's the difference? That's the question that we decided to ask today of Per Nyberg, Vice President of Market Development, Artificial Intelligence at Cray. Cray is known for the Cray-1 supercomputer, built back in 1975. Cray continues to work on hardware and has an entire division now dedicated to artificial intelligence hardware. This week on AI in Industry, we speak to Nyberg about which kinds of business problems require an upgrade in hardware and which don't.
We speak this week with Aneesh Reddy, cofounder and CEO of Capillary Technologies. Capillary is a rather large firm based in Singapore. Aneesh is in Bangalore himself. The firm focuses on machine vision applications in the retail environment.
How do we instrument a physical retail space so that, with cameras, we can pick up on the same kind of metrics that eCommerce stores can? Retail stores, as Reddy talks about in this episode, have to focus on the data that they get from the checkout counter, such as what kind of purchases were made, and potentially some kind of data about how many times the front door was opened or closed. That doesn’t really lay out that much detail about who came in, what percent of them converted, and what the average cart value was for different people.
A lot of that is completely greyed out when looking at the numbers that are accessible to brick and mortar retailers. But some of that is changing. Reddy talks about what’s possible now with machine vision in retail, and what it opens up in terms of possibility spaces for understanding customers better in a physical environment. More importantly, Aneesh paints a bit of a future vision of where he believes retail is going to be when not just computer vision is included, but when audio and other kinds of sensor information are included.
In this episode of AI In Industry, we interview Nick Possley, the CTO of a company called AllyO, based in the San Francisco Bay area. We speak with Nick about where artificial intelligence and machine learning are playing a role in recruiting today and how picking the right candidates from a pool is in some way being informed by artificial intelligence. Whether a business leader is hiring dozens and dozens of people or whether they ’re just interested in understanding how AI can engage with individuals on more of a one-to-one basis, this should be a fruitful episode. In addition, the fundamentals of what we discuss in this episode, in terms of taking in data from profiles and responding and engaging with applicants, could be applied to all sorts of cases, such as customer service and marketing.
Read the full interview article here: https://www.techemergence.com/how-to-use-ai-to-hire-and-recruit-talent
What makes a chatbot or a conversational interface actually work? What kind of work does one need to do to get a chatbot to do what one wants it to do? These are pivotal questions and questions that for most business leaders are still somewhat mysterious, but that’s exactly what we’re aiming to answer on this episode of the AI in Industry Podcast.
This week we speak with Madhu Mathihalli, CTO and co-founder of Passage AI. We speak specifically about what kinds of tasks conversational interfaces are best at, what kinds of word tracks, what kind of questions and answer are they suited for and which are a bit beyond their grasp right now. In addition, we speak about what it takes to train these machines. In other words, how do we define the particular word tracks that we want to be able to automate and determine which of them might be lower hanging fruit for applying a chatbot or which of them might not?
Read or listen to the full podcast here: https://www.techemergence.com/how-to-get-a-chatbot-to-do-what-one-wants-in-business/
Episode Summary: In this episode of the AI in Industry podcast, we interview Rajat Mishra, VP of Customer Experience at Cisco, about the best practices for adopting AI in the enterprise and how business leaders should think about the man-machine balance at their companies. Mishra talks with us about how the executive team should be able to imagine the future of specific work roles that might integrate AI technology or envision how those roles will shift in the short-term. In other words, how will AI affect workflows?
In this episode of the AI in Industry podcast, we interview Nikhil Malhotra, Creator and Head of Maker's Lab at Tech Mahindra, about how artificial intelligence changed the nature of IT services and business services in general. Malhotra talks about what businesses should consider to make themselves relevant for the future. In addition, he discusses the philosophy shift that has to happen for people to be appreciative of the process of problem-solving, and to see profit and growth from AI. We hope business leaders in the IT services industry will take from this interview the low-hanging fruit applications in the IT services industry.
Episode Summary: Prominent technology companies like Google and Amazon lead the way in the B2C world, having access to streams of searches, clicks, and online purchases. They have access to large volumes of consumer data pointss numbering in the billions that can be used to train machine learning algorithms.
B2B companies operate under a different model: "propensity to buy," as it's called. A typical B2B company might at most make a couple hundred sales per year, and many B2B companies make only dozens. In other words, every sale matters.
In this episode of the AI in Industry podcast, we interview Kiran Rama, Director of Data Sciences Center of Excellence at VMWare, about purchasing external data and to leveraging internal data. Rama also talks about using data to determine how likely certain leads are to turn into high-value customers. In addition, he discusses with us the "propensity to buy."
We hope that this interview can help business leaders determine if and how AI can help their organizations identify which leads could yield the highest ROI and which customers are the most primed for reselling.
For business leaders who are thinking about integrating AI into their company or who are just in the very beginning of that journey, this may be a useful episode of the podcast.
Many times, people think that finding the right talent is the biggest challenge when it comes to integrating AI into the enterprise. Much of our own research and conversations with machine learning vendors and the consultants trying to sell AI into the enterprise actually think there's another, bigger problem: combing the expertise of subject matter experts and that of data scientists to leverage information for future initiatives in business.
This week, we interview Grant Wernick, CEO of Insight Engines in San Francisco. We speak with Grant about the initial challenges of organizing data and setting up a data infrastructure a business can use to leverage AI. We also talk about using data in leveraging normal workflows so that non-technical personnel can use it to drive better product innovation to help the company.
One of most fun parts about doing our geolocation pieces at TechEmergence is that we are able to interview so many people within a given country or city. Recently we did a huge piece on AI in India. We got to interview folks from the government and the bigger existing businesses, as well as a handful of people at the unicorns in Bangalore.
One of those companies is Fractal Analytics. Fractal Analytics works in a number of spaces. One of them, consumer packaged goods, is an area on which we haven’t done much coverage. Many of our readers are in the retail space, but CPG has some pretty curious AI use cases.
This week, we interview Prashant Joshi, Head of AI and Machine Learning at Fractal Analytics, about the different applications of machine learning in the CPG sector: doing chemical tests or finding new buyer segments within existing groups of consumers to determine who is buying from a company and who is buying from competitors.
Hopefully, for those in retail, this interview will not only highlight some of the interesting use cases of AI in the CPG world but also provide some ideas about winning market share from what some of the bigger CPG firms are doing with Fractal Analytics.
In this episode of the AI in Industry podcast, we interview Grant Ingersoll at Lucidworks, about enterprise search. Ingersoll talks about how companies have massive amounts of siloed data, making it difficult to find within enterprise systems.
We hope businesses might take away from this interview what is required and what is involved in building search applications to make corporate data more accessible and structured. Ingersoll will also discuss how data strategies are going to evolve and how scientists and data experts might come together to build an enterprise search application.
We receive a lot of interest from business leaders in the domain of data enrichment, and we've executed on a few campaigns for these businesses. At the same time, our audience seems particularly interested in the collection of data to train a bespoke machine learning algorithm for business, asking questions related to how to get started on data collection and from where that data could come.
This week on AI in Industry, we seek to answer those questions. We are joined by Daniela Braga, CEO and founder of DefinedCrowd, a data enrichment and crowdsourcing firm, who discusses with us how a business might determine what kind of data it might need for its AI initiative.
We hope the insights garnered from this interview will help business leaders get a better idea of how they could go about starting an AI initiative and seeing it through from data collection or enhancement to solving its business problem.
There’s more to successful AI adoption than picking the right technology. Business leaders should be aware of the technical requirements of the initiative they’re undertaking, and few of those requirements are as important as data.
For this episode, we spoke with Mark Brayan, CEO of Appen, a firm that offers crowdsourced training data for machine learning applications. We discuss how developing a sound data strategy is essential for using AI to solve business problems. Brayan also helped us detail how and when a business can make use of certain data collection and enrichment methods depending on their business goals.
Over the last year, we've covered a lot of marketing applications. Many people know of our deep marketing research we've done on the landscape of machine learning in marketing applications and which industries will be affected first. But marketing doesn't tell the whole story when it comes to B2B sales. At some point, we need to take these clicks and turn them into appointments, for example. In this episode of AI in Industry, we are joined by Vitaly Gordon, VP of Data Science and Engineering at Einstein, Salesforce’s customer relationship management application driven by artificial intelligence.
We speak with Vitaly about where AI is serving a role in sales enablement today and how the CRM and sales tool ecosystem might be different in the near-term future; how will salespeople be able to leverage AI to make themselves more productive? Vitaly paints an interesting picture of where he sees the low hanging fruit and the unique challenges with sales data and B2B data that are quite different from the challenges those in the B2C world might deal with.
In this episode of the AI in Industry podcast, we interview Sumit Borar, Senior Director of Data Sciences and Engineering at Myntra, an eCommerce site for fashion, about the current and future state of eCommerce personalization and how the way customers in India purchase products online affect that personalization. Myntra talks about the challenges of bringing dialed-in personalized recommendations to the physical world and the challenges of bringing eCommerce into the developing world.
In addition, he discusses with us the different ways that eCommerce is being experienced in rural parts of India and some of the unique hurdles that they’ve had to overcome. Business leaders looking to apply machine learning and data science to the eCommerce world in developing markets and business leaders aiming to bring data science to the physical retail world should tune into this episode.
Read the full interview article here: www.techemergence.com/ai-retail-ecommerce-india-challenges-opportunities
This week on AI in Industry, we speak with Amir Saffari, Senior Vice President of AI at BenevolentAI, a London-based pharmaceutical company that uses machine learning to find new uses for existing drugs and new treatments for diseases.
In speaking with him, we aim to learn two things:
We hope the insights in this episode provide business leaders in the pharma industry with an understanding of the current state of AI in their space and where it might play a role in their industry in the next two to three years.
See the full interview article here: www.techemergence.com/future-drug-discovery-ai-role-man-machine
We usually discuss the impact of artificial intelligence on a business's bottom line, but governments and NGOs are also considering AI as a mechanism for improving society.
This week on the AI in Industry podcast, Anandan Padmanabhan, CEO of the Wadhwani Institute for Artificial Intelligence in India, speaks to us about where and how the public sector should consider leveraging AI.
Padmanabhan discusses the challenges that the Indian government faces in providing education and healthcare to its citizens. Although AI might help overcome these challenges, those who need these services most may not have access to the technologies necessary to work with it.
See the full interview article here: www.techemergence.com/ai-government-ngo-social-good-initiatives-interview-wadhwani-institute
AI has made it easier to understand text as a medium in a deeper, more efficient way and at scale. With video, the situation is quite different. Searching for content within videos is more challenging because video is not just voice and sound, it is also a collection of moving and still images on screen. How could AI work to overcome that challenge?
In this episode of the AI in Industry podcast, we interview Manish Gupta, CEO and co-founder of VideoKen, about the future of video search as machine learning is increasingly integrated into the process. Dr. Gupta talks about how video is becoming more searchable and discusses his own forecasts about what that will look like in the future. He also predicts what machine learning will allow Youtube to do as people continue to search for more specific video content.
Our Content Lead, Raghav Bharadwaj, joins us for this interview.
See the full video article here: www.techemergence.com/machine-learning-video-search-video-education-how-it-works/
This week on AI in Industry, we are talking about the ethical consequences of AI in business. If a system were to train itself to act in unethical or legally reprehensible ways, it could take actions such as filtering or making decisions about people in regards to race or gender.
When machine learning is integrated into technology products, could a misbehaving system put the company at financial and legal risk?
Our guest this week, Otto Berkes, Chief Technology Officer of New York-based CA Technologies, speaks to us about realistic changes in the technology planning and testing process that leaders need to consider. We discussed how businesses could integrate machine learning into the products and services, while still protecting themselves from potential legal downsides.
See the full interview article featuring Otto Berkes live at: https://www.techemergence.com/?p=13752&preview=true
When we think of recommendation engines, we might think of Amazon or Netflix, but while consumer goods and entertainment might be the most prominent domains for recommendation engines, there are others. This week, we speak with Madhu Gopinathan of MakeMyTrip.com, one of the few Indian unicorn companies, about recommendation engines for travel companies.
According to Madhu, MakeMyTrip’s recommendation engine has to figure out the best hotels for customer given their destination, but recommending hotels to first-time users and those who don’t frequent the site can prove challenging. How does a travel company’s AI-based recommendation engine start the process of making well-informed recommendations?
Madhu talks to us about how a recommendation engine might match people immediately with their preferred product or service when the on-site data does not exist to inform the AI-driven recommendations.
See the full interview article here: www.techemergence.com/recommendation-engines-actually-work-strategies-principles
When contemplating a new venture into AI or machine learning, companies need to take on a number of important considerations that relate to talent, existing data and limitations. One way executives can judge how successful or appropriate and AI project would be for their company is to examine use cases of businesses that have previously done something similar.
With AI and machine learning news increasing in tech media, a business leader may find it challenging to cut through the hype and identify valid, useful case studies.
We talked to Ben Lorica, the Chief Data Scientist at O’Reilly Media, to get his insights on what key details executives should be looking for within a case study.
To see the our interview article, visit https://www.techemergence.com/what-executives-should-be-asking-about-ai-use-cases-in-business
Episode Summary: In this episode of the podcast, we interview AIG’s Chief Data Science Officer, Dr. Nishant Chandra, about natural language processing (NLP) for internal and team communication. Dr. Chandra talks about how NLP can help with sharing documents with specific team members whose roles warrant viewing those documents.
Instead of a broad memo that would go out across the company, a document could be transformed to a tailored message depending on the individual receiving it. For instance, a document could be presented in a digestible way to the executive team, but be distilled to contain fewer details for the technology team to make it relevant to them. How might NLP serve this summarization role for internal communications in the next 5 years?
See the full interview article here: www.techemergence.com/nlp-text-summarization-team-communication
This week’s episode of the AI in Industry podcast focuses on two main questions. First, how should business leaders determine the most fruitful, potential applications of AI in their business? Second, how do they choose the right one into which to invest resources?
This week, we interview someone who has spoken with a number of CTOs and CIOs about early adoption strategies for machine learning for customer service, marketing, manufacturing and other applications. He is Madhusudan Shekar, Principal Evangelist at Amazon Internet Services.
See the full interview article here: www.techemergence.com/how-to-determine-the-best-artificial-intelligence-application-areas-in-your-business
At TechEmergence, we often talk about the software capabilities of AI and the tangible return on investment (ROI) of recommendation engines, fraud detection, and different kinds of AI applications. We rarely talk about the hardware side of the equation, and that will be our focus today. For hardware companies like Nvidia, stock prices have soared thanks to the popularity of new kinds of AI hardware being needed not only in academia but also among the technology giants. Increasingly, AI hardware is about more than just graphics processing units (GPUs).
Today we interview Mike Henry, CEO of Mythic AI. Mike speaks about the different kinds of AI-specific hardware, where they are used, and how they differ depending on their function. More specifically, Mike talks about the business value of AI hardware. Can specific hardware save money on energy, time, and resources? Where can it drive value? Where is AI hardware necessary to open new capabilities for AI systems that may not have been possible with older hardware? What is the right business approach to AI hardware?
This interview was brought to us by Kisaco Research, which partnered with TechEmergence to help promote their AI hardware summit on September 18 and 19 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View California.
See the full interview article here:
www.techemergence.com/financial-roi-ai-hardware-top-line-bottom-line-impact
Episode Summary: Facebook and Google’s advertising complex is founded on machine learning, allowing people to self-serve their data needs across a broad audience. India-based InMobi is a company in the advertising technology space that delivers 10 billion ad requests daily.
Today, we speak with Avi Patchava, Vice-President of Data Sciences and Machine Learning at InMobi, which operates in China, Europe, India, and the US. Patchava explains how machine learning plays a role in appropriately matching advertising requests to the right audience at scale, whether on mobile, desktop or different devices and media. Patchava paints a robust picture of what this technology will look like moving forward and how it will change the game for marketers and advertisers, especially with the emphasis on data and machine learning.
See the full interview article here:
www.techemergence.com/future-advertising-machine-learning-audience-targeting-reach
Companies with wells of data at their disposal may find themselves asking how they can use them in meaningful ways. Generally speaking, a clean set of data is the foundation for AI applications, but business owners may not know how exactly to organize their data in a way that allows them to best leverage AI. How exactly does a business transition from having data with the potential for usefulness to having data that’s going to allow for an accurate, helpful machine learning tool—one that can actually help solve business problems?
In this episode of the podcast, we speak with Bryon Jacob, Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer at data.world, a company that offers products and services that help enterprises manage their data. In our conversation, Bryon walks us through the common errors companies make when creating and organizing data sets, and how these companies can transition to a more organized and meaningful data management system.
The details in this interview should provide business leaders with a better understanding of some of the processes involved in getting started with AI initiatives, and how to hire data science-related roles into a company.
See the full interview article with Bryon Jacob live at:
https://www.techemergence.com/how-existing-bus…ta-assets-for-ai/
Episode summary: In this episode of Ai in industry, we speak with Manoj Saxena, the Executive Chairman of CognitiveScale, about how AI and automation are being applied to white-collar processes in the healthcare sector.
In simple business language, Manoj summarizes key healthcare applications such as invoicing handling, bad debt reduction, claims combat, and the patient experience, and explains how AI and automation can make these processes more efficient to improve the patient experience in healthcare organizations.
Interested readers can listen to the full interview with Manoj here:
https://www.techemergence.com/white-collar-automation-in-healthcare/
Episode Summary: Natural language processing (NLP) has become popular in the past two years as more businesses processes implement this technology in different niches. In inviting our guest today, we want to know specifically which industries, businesses or processes NLP could be leveraged to learn from activity logs.
For instance, we aim to understand how car companies can extract insights from the incident reports they receive from individual users or dealerships, whether it is a report related to manufacturing, service or weather.
In the same manner, how can insights be gleaned from the banking or insurance industries based on activity logs? We speak with the University of Texas’s Dr. Bruce Porter to discover the current and future use-cases of NLP in customer feedback.
Interested readers can listen to the full interview with Bruce here:
https://www.techemergence.com/using-nlp-customer-feedback-automotive-banking
Episode summary: This week on AI in Industry, we speak to Rana el Kaliouby, Co-founder and CEO of Affectiva about how machine vision can be applied to detecting human emotion - and the business value of emotionally aware machines.
Enterprises leveraging cameras today to gain an understanding of customer engagement and emotions will find Rana’s thoughts quite engaging, particularly her predictions about the future of marketing and automotive.
We’ve had guests on our podcast say that the cameras of the future will most likely be set up for their outputs to be interpreted by AI, rather than by humans. Increasingly machine vision technology is being used in sectors like automotive, security, marketing, and heavy industry - machines making sense of data and relaying information to people. Emotional intelligence is an inevitable next step in our symbiotic relationship with machines, an in this interview we explore the trend in depth.
Interested readers can listen to the full interview with Rana here: https://www.techemergence.com/can-businesses-use-emotional-intelligence
A myriad of customer service channels exist today, such as social media, email, chat services, call centers, and voice mail. There are so many ways that a customer can interact with a business and it is important to take them all into account.
Customers or prospects who interact via chat may represent just one segment of the audience, while the people that engage via the call center represent another segment of the audience. The same might be said of social media channels like Twitter and Facebook.
Each channel may offer a unique perspective from customers – and may provide unique value for business leaders eager to improve their customer experience. Understanding and addressing all channels of unstructured text feedback is a major focus for natural language processing applications in business – and it’s a major focus for Luminoso.
Luminoso founder Catherine Havasi received her Master’s degree in natural language processing from MIT in 2004, and went on to graduate with a PhD in computer science from Brandeis before returning to MIT as a Research Scientist and Research Affiliate. She founded Luminoso in 2011.
In this article, we ask Catherine about the use cases of NLP for understanding customer voice – and the circumstances where this technology can be most valuable for companies.
Read the full article:
techemergence.com/improving-customer-experience-with-ai-gaining-quantifiable-insight-at-scale
Episode summary: In this episode of AI in Industry, we speak with Khalifeh Al Jadda, Lead Data Scientist at CareerBuilder, about the applications of machine learning in improving a user’s search experience.
Khalifeh also talks about what the future of search might look like and how AI will continue to make the search experience more intuitive (for search engines, platforms, eCommerce stores, and more).
Business leaders listening in will get a sneak peak into the future of online search - and an understanding of how and where improvements in search features could impact their business.
Interested readers can listen to the full interview with Khalifeh here:
https://www.techemergence.com/better-than-elasticsearch-machine-learning-search/
Episode summary: In this episode of AI in Industry, we speak with Andy Terrel, the Chief Data Scientist at REX - Real Estate Exchange Inc., about how AI is being used in the real estate sector today.
Looking ahead ten years into the future, Andy paints a picture of the areas where he believes AI will change the real estate business. Andy explores how marketing in real estate might change in the future with chatbots and conversational interfaces in real estate which are high value per ticket interactions - a process that will likely vary greatly from the chatbot applications we see for smaller B2C purchases (in the fashion sector, eCommerce, etc).
Interested readers can listen to the full interview with Andy here:
https://www.techemergence.com/ai-use-cases-future-real-estate/
Episode summary: Here on the AI in Industry podcast, we’ve heard AI experts explain how high-performance computing (HPC) has enabled everything from machine vision to fraud detection. In this week’s episode, we speak with Paul Martino, Managing Partner at Bullpen Capital, about which industries and AI applications will require high-performance computing most.
Paul also adds some useful tips for business leaders on how to prepare for the coming AI-related developments in hardware and software.
Interested readers can listen to our full interview with Paul here: https://www.techemergence.com/?p=12779&preview=true
Episode summary: In this episode of AI in Industry, we speak with Dr. Sanmay Das from the Washington University in St. Louis about risk prediction and management in industries like banking, insurance and finance.
Sanmay explores how are banks and other financial institutions are improving risk and fraud prevention measures with machine learning. In addition, he explores the ramifications of improved fraud detection in the coming 5 years ahead.
Interested readers can listen to the full interview with Sanmay here: https://www.techemergence.com/machine-learning-for-credit-risk/
Episode summary: In the last two or three years we at TechEmergence have witnessed a definite uptick in AI applications like predictive maintenance and heavy industry. Many exciting business intelligence and sensor data applications are making their way into “stodgy” industries like transportation, oil and gas, and telecom - where machine vision has countless applications.
We had caught up with Massimiliano Versace, CEO of Neurala over 4 years ago in an interview about the ethical implications of AI. In this week’s episode of AI in Industry, Max speaks with us about how machine vision and drones can be used together to automate the process of facilities and heavy asset upkeep. Max walks us through potential applications in telecom and rail transportation and explains where he thinks machine vision has the strongest potential to impact the bottom line.
Business leaders who manage heavy assets or physical infrastructure should find this interview insightful, as Max explains both current and near-future applications for machine vision for maintenance and upkeep.
Interested readers can listen to the full interview with Max here: https://www.techemergence.com/applications-of-machine-vision-in-heavy-industry/
Episode summary: In this episode of AI in Industry we speak with Abhi Yadav, the CEO of ZyloTech, a Boston-based customer analytics platform for omni-channel marketing operations. Abhi talks about what's possible now with AI for marketing personalization, and what will be possible in the next 5 years.
Business leaders with an increasing focus on narrower customer targeting will be interested in Abhi’s insights on how technology allows for businesses to reach an “audience of one”.
Interested readers can listen to the full interview with Abhi here:
Episode summary: In this week’s episode of AI in Industry we speak with DataRobot CEO Jeremy Achin about the future of AI applications for people without a data science background. We specifically discuss how future AI tools might bypass the complexity of machine learning programming and make intuitive interfaces that function more like today’s everyday software. Our business leader listeners will be interested in Jeremy’s predictions about how the UX for AI-related tools might become more simplified and code-less in the coming 5 years.
Interested readers can listen to the full interview with Jermy here: https://www.techemergence.com/will-artificial-intelligence-become-easier-use/
Episode summary: In this week’s episode of AI in Industry, we speak with Larry Lafferty, the President and CEO of Veloxiti. Larry has been building large AI projects for DARPA and other large private companies for the last 30 years.
In this interview, Larry explains three critical factors to applying artificial intelligence in the enterprise (with insights especially relevant for companies who aren’t very familiar with AI and data science).
AI vendors and business leaders should find the “how to” insights in this interview useful – particularly Larry’s details on organizing data and defining an AI-applicable business problem.
Interested readers can listen to the full interview with Larry here: https://www.techemergence.com/how-to-apply-ai-…h-larry-lafferty/
Episode summary: In the heavy industry sector, the cost of unpredicted repairs or machine failures can be very expensive. For example: A cargo train with an engine failure in will incur costs from it’s own repairs, from the transit required to reach the broken down engine, and with holding up other trains and cargo in the process.
Predictive maintenance has the potential to help businesses assess the condition of vehicles, equipment and parts in order to predict when maintenance should be performed. Using data collected by sensors on machines (including vibration, temperature, and more) heavy industry companies can potentially predict which machines or parts need imminent maintenance and which machines are least likely to breakdown.
In this week’s episode, we speak with Will McGinnis, Chief Scientist of Predikto, a predictive maintenance software provider based in Atlanta. Will speaks with us about predictive maintenance applied for the improvement railways and trains equipment, and how companies in the railway sector can use predictive maintenance to coax out patterns in maintenance schedules and heavy equipment data.
Interested readers can listen to the full interview with Will here:https://www.techemergence.com/will-mcginnis-predikto-predictive-maintenance-trains-mobile-heavy-industry
Episode summary: In this week’s episode of AI in Industry we speak with Rodney Brooks, Founder and CTO of Rethink Robotics, a collaborative robot manufacturers founded in Boston in 2008. Rodney explores robotic safety an regulations and he also paints a picture of what robots might be capable of in the next five years.
Executives in the logistics and manufacturing sectors considering adopting robots will find Rodney’s insights most valuable. Rodney explores what applications will move into the realm of robotics and what application won't in the near future and delves into what business executives need to know about human robot collaboration before considering their adoption.
Interested readers can see the full interview with Rodney Brooks from Rethink Robotics here: https://www.techemergence.com/improving-robot-safety-capability-artificial-intelligence-rodney-brooks/
Episode summary: One of the key challenges that enterprises face in adopting artificial intelligence is finding skilled data science talent; ). Business leaders want to know when it's best to hire AI talent, to "upskill" existing workers, or simply to bring in AI consultants - and the answers aren't always obvious.
In this episode of AI in Industry we speak with Nikolaos Vasiloglou from MLTrain about how AI consulting and AI training events can be used to upgrade an existing team’s skills. Nikolaos also distinguishes the right and wrong circumstances to bring on AI consultants, and shares his tips on how training, upskilling, and consulting can level up an existing company’s AI capabilities.
Listeners can find out how to set realistic goals for re-training existing teams for new AI skill sets. Lastly, we also explore how AI consultants can support developer and engineering teams to produce fruitful real-world AI applications (without developing unhealthy reliance on outside experts).
Interested readers can also listen to our previous episode of AI in Industry (here) where we look at overcoming the data and talent challenges of AI in life sciences
Interested readers can listen to the full interview with Nikolaos here:https://www.techemergence.com/whats-the-value-of-ai-events-and-consulting/
Episode Summary: Over the last couple of years there has been a definite but small shift from mobile as the primary interface focus for businesses to voice. With home assistant devices like the Amazon Echo and the Google Home becoming more commonplace, we aim to focus on how voice based AI applications are being used by businesses today and what this adoption will look like in the future.
In this week’s episode of AI in Industry, we speak with Peter Cahill, the founder and CEO of Voysis, a voice AI platform that enables voice-based natural language instruction, search, and discovery. Peter explores areas where voice related AI applications will be used by businesses in B2B and B2C spaces today and what this might look like in five years.
Interested readers can see the full interview with Peter Cahill from Voysis here: https://www.techemergence.com/spoken-voice-ai-applications-smart-home-peter-cahill-voysis/
In this week’s episode we focus on AI application in the customer service business function, - specifically in the context of call centers. We speak with Ali Azarbayejani, CTO of Cogito based in the Boston area, which works on coaching and providing feedback for call center agents in real time.
We aim to focus on what our readers and business executives can do today with AI in the context of call center applications, and how they can go about seeing measurable impacts over a predetermined period of time.
We speak with Ali about what is possible with analyzing voice in real-time today and what kind of ROI can businesses expect for this application. Lastly we touch-base on what factors will make AI inevitable for some companies in the next two to three years.
Interested readers can see the full interview with Ail here:
https://www.techemergence.com/what-industries-will-adopt-voice-related-ai-applications-first/
Episode summary: There are many challenges to bringing AI into an enterprise for example the lack of skilled AI talent, or issues around data organization. In this week's episode, we focus on AI adoption in the enterprise from an investor’s perspective.
We expect that founders looking to sell B2B enterprise AI-products and people in enterprises who are looking for the right qualities in an AI firm which would ease integration, would find this episode relatable. We speak with Rudina Seseri from Glasswing Ventures about what are the pain points for AI integration in the enterprise and at the other end of the spectrum, some factors that are aiding AI adoption.
Interested readers can see the full interview with Rudina here:
https://www.techemergence.com/reducing-friction-ai-adoption-enterprise-rudina-seseri/
Episode summary: In this week's interview on the AI in Industry podcast, we speak with Amir Konigsberg, the CEO of Twiggle, about the future of product search - and how eCommerce and retail brands can use natural language processing (NLP) to improve their user experience.
Amir explains some of the factors that make eCommerce product search challenging, and the artificial intelligence approaches that can improve it today and within the next five years.
Interested readers can learn more about present and future use-cases for artificial intelligence applications in retail in our full article on that topic.
You can listen to the full interview with Amir Konigsberg from Twiggle here:
https://www.techemergence.com/nlp-for-ecommerce-search-current-challenges-and-future-potential
Episode Summary: Machine learning (ML) can be used to identify objects and pictures or help steer vehicles, but is not best suited for text-based AI applications says Robbie Allen, founder of Automated Insights.
In this episode of AI in Industry, we speak with Robbie about what is possible in generating text with AI and why rules based processes are a big part of natural language generation (NLG). We also explore which industries are likely to adopt such NLG techniques and in what ways can NLG help in business intelligence applications in the near future.
You can listen to the full interview with Robbie here:
https://www.techemergence.com/robbie-allen-from-automated-insights-the-use-cases-of-natural-language-generation
Episode summary: This week’s episode explores the current possibilities in applying natural language processing for legal contract review. We speak with Andrew Antos and Nischal Nadhamuni from Klaritylaw, a Boston-based startup focused on using natural language processing (NLP) based information extraction, from non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), in a live setting.
We delve into the current and future roles of AI and lawyers with respect to legal contracts. AI is currently being applied in applications like retroactive analysis and information identification in legal documents. According to Andrew and Nishchal, in the future we will see on-the-fly legal content creation from AI tools and NLP being applied to most commercial contracting. Although, one restraint that AI companies presently face in the legal domain is the lack of access to huge amounts of publicly available data.
You can listen to the full interview with Andrew and Nischal here:
https://www.techemergence.com/applying-ai-legal-contracts-whats-possible-now/ Episode summary: Most NLP applications we hear about involve marketing, customer service, and other customer-facing functions - but that there are NLP-related opportunities in other back-end functions as well.
In this episode of AI in industry, we speak with Talla's Chief Data Scientist, Byron Galbraith, about how businesses can leverage chatbots or other NLP applications for improving document search for internal company communication. Byron explores what is currently possible using AI to improve search operations using contextual awareness. Byron also paints a vision of what AI-enabled "knowledge sharing" and "knowledge discovery" might look like in the future.
For the full article of this episode, visit: TechEmergence.com/artificial-intelligence-team-communication/
When we talk about natural language processing (NLP), applications like handling customer service or chatbots which can aid with questions, come to mind. Yet, in recent years, NLP platforms have been increasingly used in content marketing and content production applications.
In this episode of AI in industry, we talk to Tomás Ratia García-Oliveros, the co-founder and CEO founder of Frase.io, a Boston based startup which focuses on NLP problems around content marketing and content creation. Tomas explores how NLP platforms are now able to summarize resources on the web, perform contextual search and language understanding applications related to this domain.
See the full interview article with Tomás Ratia García-Oliveros live at:
www.techemergence.com/artificial-intelligence-content-marketing-content-creation
In this episode of AI in industry, we speak with Michael Johnson, the director of research and innovation for Interactions llc, in Boston MA. Michael explores the inbound (human to machine) and outbound (machine to human) applications of voice based natural language processing (NLP) and also talks about attaching a timeframe to how soon small and medium enterprises (SMEs) would have access to this technology in a financially sensible manner.
Although NLP is often associated with chat or text interfaces, voice is important for applications in call centers, mobile phones, smart home devices, and more. In addition, Michael explains that voice involves unique challenges that text does not have to deal with - including background noise and accents, which need to be overcome to deliver a good user experience.
See the full interview article with Michael Johnston live at:
In order to shed more light on the growing applications of natural language processing, we speak with Vlad Sejnoha (CTO of Nuance Communications) about the current and near-term applications of NLP for voice and text across industries.
In this podcast interview, Vlad breaks down real-world NLP use-cases in industries like banking, healthcare, automotive, and customer service.
For the full article of this episode, visit:
TechEmergence.com/natural-language-processing-current-applications-and-future-possibilities
This week on AI in Industry we interview Vito Vishnepolsky of Clickworker. Clickworker is a large microtasking marketplace that crowdsources the search optimization work for many of the world's leading search engines.
So how does crowdsourced human work play a role in making sure eCommerce and media searches give users what they want? That's exactly what we explore this week. Vito’s perspective is valuable because he has a finger on the pulse of crowdsourced demand, handing business development for various crowdsourced AI support services - both for tech giants and startups.
Read the full article online at TechEmergence:
TechEmergence.com/how-microtasking-helps-optimize-ai-based-search
Sales forecasting is big business. If you can better predict how much of a certain product or service you will sell in a given day, you can better stock inventory, better staff your facilities, and ultimately keep more margin in your business's accounts.
This week on AI in Industry we interview Dr. John-Paul B Clarke, professor at Georgia Tech and co-founder / Chief Scientist at Pace (previously called "Prix"). Dr. Clarke shares details about how sales predictions are done today, and what AI advancements may allow for in helping businesses sell everything from groceries to hotel rooms.
Read the full interview article online at:
In this episode of AI in industry, Innoplexus CEO Gunjan Bhardwaj explores how pharma giants are working to overcome two critical challenges with AI: Data, and talent.
Pharmaceutical data is challenging because the same term (say "EGFR") might be referred to as a "protein", a "biomarker", or a "target". Gunjan explores how this kind of relevance and context for data - and how pharma companies may need to hire the talent issues involved with making life sciences and computer sciences teams work together productively.
See the full interview article online at:
techemergence.com/overcoming-data-talent-challenges-ai-life-sciences
This week, AI in Industry features Jeremy Barnes, Chief Architect at Element AI. Jeremy talks about the common mistakes some businesses might make while adopting AI to solve broad business problems. He also sheds light on the problem areas that could raise the market value of businesses through AI adoption, hiring the right talent with the right combination of subject matter expertise and business experience, and the business and technical aspects executives should consider before contemplating the adoption of AI.
For more insights on the B2B applications of AI, go to techemergence.com
This week, AI in Industry features Dr. David Franke, Chief Scientist at Vast. David talks about how AI can work with scarce transaction data to derive meaningful analytics for big purchases, such as cars and houses. He elaborates on how the AI can glean information from user interaction and marketplace data to provide customers with the relevant product fit, deals and recommendations on big purchases. He also discusses the future trends and business benefits for early adopters of AI for purchase recommendations of high-cost items.
For more insights on this topic, go to www.techemergence.com
This week’s episode covers the medical applications of machine vision for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Medical science has integrated AI since the late 90s, and it’s been useful in the fight against cancer. This week’s guest is Dr. Alexandre Le Bouthillier, founder of Imagia. Imagia is a medical imaging company which specializes in using AI and machine learning to detect cancer in its early stages so that oncologists can make quicker, more accurate diagnoses for patients.
AI is a useful tool in the detection of breast cancer, colon cancer, and lung cancer. It can even detect genetic mutations, something humans certainly cannot. Learn just how important AI has been over the last two decades in developing the medical infrastructure necessary for patients to have a chance at surviving and even curing their cancer.
See the full interview article - with images and audio included - on TechEmergence:
TechEmergence.com/the-future-of-medical-machine-vision-possibilities-for-diagnostics-and-more
This week on AI in Industry, we speak with Equifax's Dr. Rajkumar Bondugula about how the dynamics, composition and requirements of the data science team have evolved over the years. Raj also shares valuable insights on how to build a robust data science and machine learning team, use its collective intelligence to solve problems, and retain the team by engaging them with the right problems they expect to solve.
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This week on AI in Industry, we explore IoT security with Bob Baxley (Chief Engineer at Bastille). This includes information on how different IoT security is compared to infosec, the unique challenges IoT security presents (for detecting and scanning wireless network traffic that runs on various protocols and for classifying types of cyberthreats), what the future of IoT security might look like, and how deep learning and machine learning tools can be used to better classify and detect threats and attacks in the cyberspace.
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In this episode of AI in Industry, we explore how artificial intelligence can be use to manipulate human behavior - in gaming and in business. We explore how game designers use psychology and machine learning to drive their own desired outcomes, leaving users to "feel" in control.
Dr. Charles Isbell teaches machine learning at Georgia Tech. He explores the manipulative elements of game design, and how some of the same AI approaches are likely being used at tech giants like Amazon and Facebook. In this episode you learn how businesses leverage the "illusion of choice" with subtly influential AI techniques. Charles also helps us understand which businesses will be most able to use AI to guide user behavior in the years ahead.
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If you combine the hype-factor of both "blockchain" and "artificial intelligence" you often get a supernova of jargon. This week on the AI in Industry podcast, we aim to get beyond the hype to discuss how blockchain might make AI more accessible for small and mid-sized businesses in the years ahead. Dr. Ben Goertzel - CEO of SingularityNET - is our guest this week.
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Expert systems and machine learning are two ends of a spectrum working to solve similar problems quite differently. One one hand you have if-then scenarios and a logical approach, and on the other you have vast neural networks and a big data approach. Some companies exist to try and bridge the gap between the if-then rule systems and the massive piles of data. They hope to find a middle ground of sorts, one that mitigates their individual disadvantages. One such company is Montreal’s fuzzy.ai.
In this episode, we interview its founder, Evan Prodromou about the state of the middle ground, so-called hybrid systems. The middle ground is an elusive, still mostly theoretical concept, but businesses can take steps to prepare for when it becomes accessible to them. What exactly would a hybrid system provide to businesses in terms of automation? How accessible are they now, and what can businesses do to best integrate them when they’re ready? Find out in this episode of the podcast.
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There’s a lot of hype out there about conversational AI. Although according to our guest, we’re nowhere near the day when AI can generate accurate conversations for the average business to integrate into their customer service, chatbots still have practical applications. In this episode, we interview the head of research at Digital Genius, Yoram Bachrach. Yoram succinctly outlines the current applications of chatbots—what they can and can’t do—and details how business can best prepare to automate their customer service.
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How can machine learning help us advertise through social media? In this episode, Thomas Jelonek, CEO of Envision.ai, talks to us about how in the next five years, machine learning might automate the laborious guess-and-check process of finding visual content with which users can engage. Right now, finding images and videos that will best generate engagement is a task reserved for a human. He or she shifts through images and video clips that may work for an audience based on anecdotal evidence and perception of past post success. Learn how, according to Thomas, machine learning could help you save time and money, generate you a better ROI, and build you a larger list with more accurate targeting on social media.
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This episode explores the ways in which artificial intelligence has the potential to revolutionize the field of medicine. This week's guest, Dr. Kristóf Zsolt Szalay speaks to this topic, discussing research that hopes to create automated learning networks and algorithms designed to predict the development of human cells in response to drugs. This technological innovation would make it possible for near-instantaneous simulations to be run, allowing optimal combinations and optimal doses of drugs to be pinpointed and distributed to patients.
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In this episode, discover how chatbots and conversational agents can provide you an advantage in the realms of customer support, product, support, lead engagement, and more, and learn the theory behind creating useful chatbots you can use in your own business. Right now, if we intend to find a piece of information or purchase something on the Internet, we might use a search engine that provides us with a list of sites we can browse in order to find ourselves a resolution for that intent. This week’s guest, Chief Scientist at Conversica, Dr. Sid J Reddy, talks about how AI and ML can usher in the next a new era of search software, one that will bring you a faster, more accurate resolution to your intent.
Most importantly, Dr. Reddy discusses how chatbot technology can be integrated into areas such as customer service, product support, and lead engagement. By the end of the episode, listeners will have a better idea of the importance of collecting data and how they can use that data to to build chatbot templates they can use in multiple domains and applications.
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This week on AI in Industry, we speak to Paul Barba (Chief Scientist at Lexalytics) about what how companies are using natural language processing, and what it takes (in terms of expertise, time, and training) to get these systems working. From sentiment analysis to categorization, Paul walks us through interesting and fruitful use-cases and sheds light on the back-end "tweaking" required to keep NLP productive in a changing business environment.
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In this episode, we speak with Alan O'Herlihy, Founder and CEO of Ireland-based Everseen. Alan speaks to us about how machine vision systems can be used to detect theft or mistakes at a checkout counter (including forgetting to scan items, customers intentionally hiding items, and more). Alan not only explains where these technologies are in use today, but he also breaks down some of his own predictions about what these computer vision systems might make possible in the workplace of tomorrow.
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In this episode, we talk to Murali Aravamudan, Founder and CEO of AI-driven drug discovery startup Qrativ, a joint venture by the Mayo Clinic and biotech/data science firm reference. Murali and I discuss the surge of medical information and data in the medical industry, the role of artificial intelligence in developing drugs for treatments to various diseases, and the future of AI in drug discovery.
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In this episode, we talk to Daniel Nigrin, MD, Senior Vice President and CIO at Boston Children’s Hospital. Daniel and I discuss why hackers have come to prey on the healthcare industry, how these hackers benefit from their illicit activities, and what healthcare IT security precautions can be taken to prevent such attacks.
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Natural language processing has gained more and more attention with the raise of (or rather, the "fad" of) chatbots. Despite the flurry of press releases from companies about their conversational agents (only a few of which seem to be delivering real business value), few business leaders understand the value of NLP for customer service, sales enablement, or eCommerce.
In this week's episode of AI in Industry we interview Narjes Boufaden, computational linguistics PhD and CEO of Keatext, an NLP company based in Montreal. Narjes explores the possible business applications of NLP - specifically for customer service and customer experience - and she also explains (in layman's terms) how NLP systems are trained and integrated into businesses today.
The ROI on this episode (in my opinion), is a firm understanding of what NLP can and cannot do, and what business applications it can realistically solve today. I was fortunate to meet Narjes in person during my Montreal trip, and I'm glad we were able to bring her on the program shortly thereafter.
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As a human, we can often understand the mood, intention, and future action of another person just by looking at them. We see their posture, their facial expression, where their eyes are focused, and we can get a decent understanding of what they might do next. The problem of computer vision for body language is a much harder problem to solve, but we are indeed making progress.
Our guest this week is Paul Kruszewski, an computer science PhD who's spent nearly the last 20 years focused on 3D modeling and artificial intelligence. Today, he's CEO of Wrnch, a Montreal-based AI company focused on reading and understanding human body language.
Paul explains how advances in 3D modeling and computer vision have allowed researchers to get machines to "understand" the posture, movements, and intentions of human being - and he also helps explore the future applications that this technology might have in security, retail, sports, and more.
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In the future, the vast majority of photos and videos recorded won't be seen and used by humans - they'll be seen and used by machines. This week we interview Allan Benchetrit, CEO at Algolux - a Montreal-based AI company focusing on computational imaging.
If you take an image for a human being in a consumer application (maybe an iPhone app or a recreational DSLR camera), you probably want it to be visually appealing and clear to the human eye.
As it turns out, machines don't need pretty images, they need to do their jobs. If a computer vision system needs to detect road signs, or suspicious people in an airport, or the presence of weeds in a cornfield - it may create images that are ugly to the human eye, but perfectly calibrated for being interpreted by machines for their jobs. As it turns out, this is a complicated AI-related problem itself, and Allan walks us through it.
If your business uses cameras heavily - or may do so in the future - this interview will provide an around-the-corner look at what it takes to create effective computer vision applications.
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Procurement isn't usually seen as a "sexy" aspect of a business's operations. Procurement personnel are responsible for sourcing suppliers or vendors, determining criterion of success, negotiating deal terms, and tracking results and deliverables - all of which could be considered "under appreciated" work. This week, Tamr's Eliot Knudsen walks us through the ways that AI is making it's way into the procurement process, and what it means for the future of this job function.
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This week we speak with Bastiaan Janmaat (CEO and co-Founder of DataFox) about the current and future applications of artificial intelligence in the CRM.
No matter what business you're in, there's a high likelihood that managing relationships with customers, wholesalers, suppliers, or affiliates is important to your daily operations. Artificial intelligence is currently being employed to help with automating data entry, automating email and phone reminders, and even prompting salespeople with the right phone scripts in real time.
In addition to covering "what's being done now" - spend the end of the interview asking Bastiaan about his predictions of the most likely AI-for-CRM capabilities that will become commonplace in the next 5 years.
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Artificial intelligence is coming - should be worried about our jobs? Well, it depends. Our guest Dr. Kevin LaGrandeur spent the last two years researching the impacts of automation and artificial intelligence on society and the job market. In this interview on AI in Industry, we explore the near future of AI's impact on the world of work, and I ask Kevin some important questions, including:
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Though we don't think about it on a daily basis - the technologies around us often "work" because of an underlying standard that they depend on. These technologies include: Wifi, ethernet, fax, and much of the internet itself. Do certain AI applications need their own set of standards in order to scale?
Imagine if you needed a new type of cable or input every time you wanted to jack your computer into the wall? Imagine if you needed different hardware to pick up wifi in every location you moved around to? Imagine if all websites had totally different protocols for how they were loaded or served to your computer? If this were the case, it would be extremely challenging for a robust "ecosystem" of internet companies and technologies to emerge, because the technology wouldn't scale or work well at all.
This week we interview Konstantinos Karachalios, Managing Director of the Standards Association at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Konstantinos holds a PhD in Physical and previously worked for 25 years at the European Patent Office. He speaks with us this week about the kinds of AI standards that may need to arise in order for AI to be safe and trusted enough to support a business ecosystem.
Konstantinos also speaks to us about some of the current AI standards that IEEE is working on developing currently, and the implications they might have businesses everywhere.
It would be great if instead of having our car break down - could have them fixed as soon as the underlying problem began. It would be great if instead of having to diagnose a malfunctioning piece of mechanical equipment - would could have the right "fix" presented to us immediately. As it turns out, artificial intelligence may be working its way to accomplish both of those goals in the not-so-distance future.
This week we interview Tilak Katsuri, CEO of Predii, a predictive maintenance AI company based on Palo Alto. Predii focuses on helping service people by using AI and sensor data to prescribe proper repairs. In this episode, Tilak speaks with us about what's currently possible within the world of "predictive maintenance," as well as the possible ramifications of industrial IoT and AI in the next 5 years.
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A huge percentage of digital advertising dollars today go to Google and Facebook, who dominate that sector - and are inevitably central for the future of programmatic advertising. There’s a lot of evidence to suggest that the growth in digital advertising in the last two to three years has gone almost entirely into their coffers. At least for the foreseeable future, Facebook and Google will retain the ability to dominate that space.
The ability to be able to bid for the attention of particular target audiences, whether they’re searching for a specific term, live in a specific place or they like a specific sports team, is something that doesn’t seem to be going away, and seems to be rather efficient, thanks in the large part to Artificial Intelligence.
In this episode we talk to Lior Tasman who is the CEO of PredictiveBid, an Israeli-based predictive advertising optimization start-up. The team focuses on applying AI to some of the bigger issues in programmatic advertising to help draw out more ROI from ads. We discuss some of the challenges of programmatic advertising and what the future of programmatic advertising may look like from an advertiser’s perspective.
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The big tech giants, such as Amazon, Google and Netflix, tend to set the stage in a lot of different domains and set public expectations to raise the aggregate tide of consumer experience. Our online experience is somewhat different each time we use these and other sites. This is because many of these tech giants alter their experience user per user in a real time iterative fashion in order to create sticky experiences and to beat their competitors.
In this episode we talk to Adam Spector, the Co-Founder & Chief Business Officer at LiftIgniter, a company which provide a service which modulates website experience per users, for an array of different businesses. Adam and I discuss what the tech giants are doing to customize their business experiences, what data they’re using to continually alter user experience and what industries and sectors might be impacted by this aggregate trend as it moves forward.
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Imagine you work in a large organization with tens of thousands of employees across multiple countries, a business that’s been around for over a hundred years, and all of a sudden you have people in one department who are interested in applying chatbots, colleagues in another department who wish to implement sentiment analysis and still another department that wants to begin using AI for fraud and risk analysis. How do you manage to put all these pieces together?
That is exactly the situation that Muriel Serrurier Schepper found herself in. Muriel is the Business Consultant Advanced Data Analytics & Artificial Intelligence at Rabobank Digital Bank in Naarden, Netherlands. In this episode, Muriel and I discuss the Artificial Intelligence Center of Excellence at Rabobank, where she manages projects and has connected ad virtual and physical team across the company which is comprised of over 60,000 employees spread across the world.
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If you work in healthcare, or in an established business that is looking to implement AI for the first time - then this won't be an interview you'll want to miss.
AYASDI is one of those rare AI startups that has raised over $100MM since its inception in 2008. This week on the "AI in Industry" podcast,
Marshall Brain discusses how wetware (the human brain) is increasingly becoming a part of a bigger system which may in itself be managed by software systems. The roles and relationships of humans and machines are rapidly changing. With the increasing advances in technology, there are fewer and fewer skills or activities that an enterprise needs from human beings, and they only need those until they can be replaced by software or hardware.
For example, computer vision systems are often still not as effective as the human eye, so we still need human vision systems to recognize text or to recognize object placement, and take action accordingly (in a store, warehouse, or other setting). A human can fill that role as a piece of wetware until the software or the hardware catches up. How will man and machine collaborate in the future? We explore these dynamics in depth in this week's interview.
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Machine learning currently faces a number of obstacles which prevent it from advancing as quickly as it might. How might these obstacles be overcome and what impact would this have on the machine learning across different industries in the coming decade? In this episode we talk to Dr. Hanie Sedghi, Research Scientist at the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, about the developments in core machine learning technology that need to be made, and that researchers and scientists are working, on to further the application of machine learning in autonomous vehicles. We also touch on some of the impact that might be made if machine learning is able to overcome its own boundaries in terms of computational research, in terms of certain algorithms, and what kind of impact that might have in the arena of autonomous driving and in the realm of natural language processing (NLP).
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Fraud attacks have become much more sophisticated. Account takeovers are happening more often. Many security attacks involve multiple methods and unexpected attacks can devastate businesses in just a few days, as we saw with Neiman Marcus and Target. False promotion and abuse is seen not only on social media sites but is also targeted at business. To combat these risks, fraud solutions need to be smarter to keep pace with fraudsters to prevent attacks and react quickly when they do happen. This requires a fast-learning solution with the ability to continually evolve. In this episode we talk to Kevin Lee from Sift Science and examine the shifts in the info security landscape over the past ten or fifteen year. Lee also highlights what new kinds of fraud are now possible and what machine learning solutions are available.
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Unlike the field of self-driving cars, the fields of construction, mining, agriculture, and other classes of “heavy industry” involve a huge variety of equipment and use-cases that go beyond traveling from A to B. The heavy industry leaders of today are no farther behind automakers in their understanding that AI and automation will be essential for the future of their companies. In this episode, guest Dr. Sam Kherat discusses the areas in heavy industry where AI is currently playing a role in heavy industry, what type of capabilities and functions are automatable, and at what level. He also shines a light on how AI might affect the future of the industry within the next 2-3 years, and in what ways we can expect large equipment to become more autonomous.
Although machine learning in finance is far from new, it is merely at the cusp of a much wider set of applications (in all segments of finance, from insurance to bookkeeping and beyond). Already machine learning has overhauled so many aspects of the financial landscape, from accounting to trading, and it is destined to have more and more impact as it develops further. Guest Alexander Fleiss and his team at Rebellion Research are developing and using AI which uses quantitative analysis to pick investments. Fleiss discusses the current status of machine learning in the world of finance as well as lesser-known niche applications that don’t make headlines - but do make a big impact on how businesses are run. He then goes on to explore the effects of future innovative applications of AI in the financial domain.
Guests Will Jack and Nikhil Buduma co-founders of Remedy Health Inc discuss the challenges involved in collecting, setting up and structuring data in order to implement AI in healthcare. By the end of this episode, listeners will have gained insight into the challenges of healthcare data systems, and the potential solutions to cleaning and organizing this data for healthcare AI applications.
If there's any industry ripe for disruption by AI and ML applications, it's healthcare. This week, we speak with ElevenTwo Capital's Founder and Managing Partner Shelley Zhuang, whose investment focus (among other spaces) is on innovative healthcare services. In addition to discussion how AI is helping propel genomics, diagnostics, therapeutic treatment, and other innovations, she touches on what the healthcare space might look like in the next 10 years. For healthcare startups looking to break into the healthcare market, Zhuang doesn't pretend to have simple answers; however, she identifies commonalities among companies that have been successful in smart preparation for meeting regulatory and other industry considerations. This interview was recorded live in San Francisco at Re-Work's Machine Intelligence in Autonomous Vehicles Summit in March 2017.
In the last few months, we've had a string of fantastic interviews with investors and have gained a cross-industry picture of what's important for start-ups and emerging trends in the AI and ML space. This week's interview is no exception. Ann Miura-Ko, co-founder and partner at Floodgate, starts with an explanation of the "self-driving enterprise" concept, her functioning idea about AI investing and the future of software in general. Her high-level insights embody an interesting emphasis on the dynamic of human-machine interactions and relationships cross industries, including the constant workflows and interactions of people using software and bolstering the predictive and prescriptive analytics capabilities of that software. While forward-thinking, Miura-Ko also paints a picture of how these synergistic relationships between humans and machines are happening with companies today.
Getting an investor's perspective in AI is always a good idea for companies looking to raise money, in terms of understanding of excites VC's, but even more broadly an investor's perspective can point to emerging factors in how AI is going to impact a particular industry, shining a light on industry developments, including the commonalities that matter for any company, in any industry, leveraging these tools that are increasingly embedded with AI. In this episode we interview Polaris Partners' Gary Swart, who speaks about elements of companies that are laying the right foundations for using AI optimally and making a more defensible, durable company in an increasingly competitive landscape.
The upsurge of malware and sophisticated attacks continue to keep cybersecurity in the spotlight, but new developments in AI and deep learning offer more advanced solutions to combat security threats. This week, we catch up with Eli David, CTO of Deep Instinct—a company founded in Israel with US headquarters in San Francisco—that applies deep learning to information security. David spoke with us about why and how the deep-learning approach to AI is relevant to the future of cybersecurity.
Companies that are actively building their own security infrastructure, or are in growth mode and know they will eventually need to, should find this interview particularly relevant. David shares his perspective on how and where potential cyberthreats focus their attacks and the resulting ramifications for industries as they look for best ways to respond and prevent attacks.
One of the most clear insights from our recent consensus in marketing and advertising was that companies who have more digital touch points along the path to conversion—and more conversion in general—have an advantage when applying AI and ML technologies. In this week's episode, Scopely Co-Founder Ankur Bulsara shines a light on this dynamic and describes how gaming companies are taking advantage of digital trails and applying machine learning technologies. We don't cover much gaming on the TechEmergence podcast, so this interview is a bit off the beaten path. Bulsara speaks about how dialed-in and instrumented the mobile gaming environment is and how data is used to leverage higher conversions over time, as well as how Scopely's systems are set in place to ensure success of their business model. We think his insights on how gaming companies leverage higher conversions with (and without) machine learning can serve as an analogy for companies in other industries that are considering how to set in place similar, optimal digital processes over time.
In this episode, we speak with Co-founder and CEO Alex Holub of Vidora, about how AI can be put to work to improve marketing results. Holub touches on the resources needed—time, money, in-house or outside expertise, calibration, and data— in order to leverage AI in a realistic way. It's safe to say that today, some businesses are not yet set up to be leveraging AI, while others should be seriously considering taking the leap to using machine learning. Holub draws some firm lines as to what kinds of businesses are primed to take advantage of AI, and what it takes to flip the switch and make AI a useful and inspired revenue driver in the marketing domain.
I'm always a little shocked when I see how much venture investing goes into the healthcare space, which brings me to the subject of this week's episode: just how the healthcare industry is (and isn't) being impacted by innovations in AI technology. Guest Steve Gullans of Boston-Based Excel Venture Management talks about some of the various healthcare-related ML and AI applications that he sees being brought to light, and touches on which innovations have a better chance of getting blocked and redirected by parties of interest and those that have more promise in being accepted and rolled out sooner. By the end of this episode, listeners will have a more clear picture of practical considerations in healthcare technology adoption, reasons that are often less about quality or potential of the technology and more about clarity on ROI for investors.
At TechEmergence, we like to look around the corner at where AI is impacting industries and how people can make better business decisions based on that information. AI and software is an emerging topic of interest to many companies, and in this episode we get a venture capitalist's perspective on where AI will play a vital and necessary role with real results in software and industry.
Jake Flomenberg, a partner with venture capital firm Accel in Palo Alto, shared his insights on how software can integrate AI in intuitive and valuable ways for users. He cites some of the companies that Accel has invested in to illustrate some of the potential software features that may be introduced to the enterprise in the next five years or so. Flomenberg's insights may be useful for anyone building a business or planning to buy a product or service from a software vendor in the near future. If you're interested in getting other founders' perspectives on the feedback and interest shown by investors in their startups, our AI startup consensus on investor sentiment is a good place to start.
In some ways, investors in AI have to do a lot of what we do at TechEmergence, which is sort through marketing fluff and determine what's actually working and what's more of a pipe dream, as well as what's coming up in the next five years that seems inevitable and what's more likely to flop. In this episode we're joined by Li Jiang, a venture capitalist with GSV Capital whom I was connected with through Bootstrap Labs as a pre-event interview — we'll both be at Bootstrap Labs' Applied AI event in San Francisco on May 11. This week, Jiang speaks about the current areas of AI applications that he sees driving value in business, as well as what technologies he believes will make a long-term impact in terms of automation. His insights on where AI automations are generating cost savings and increased efficiency, as well as what roles might be completely replaced or significantly augmented by AI, are useful nuggets for companies who are thinking through some of their own business processes and are eager to identify low-hanging fruit.
As it turns out, survival of the fittest applies as much to algorithms as it does to amoebas, at least when we're talking about genetic algorithms. We recently interviewed Dr. Jay Perrret, CTO of Aria Networks, a company that uses genetic algorithm-based technology for solving some of industry's toughest problems, from optimization of business networks to pinpointing genetic patterns correlated with specific diseases. Dr. Perrett has been working for years in this domain, testing algorithms that use variations of parameters in order to gradually arrive at a best result, when there's no simple way to program a solution. In this episode, Dr. Perrett discusses how genetic algorithms (GA) work and ways that they can be tested and applied in a business context. He provides two very useful case studies, including a recent example with Facebook that involved planning out an optimal (and massive) data network.
Getting beyond the marketing and jargon on the homepage of AI companies and figuring out what's actually happening, what results are being driven in business, is part of our job at TechEmergence. Shaking those answers out of founders is not always easy, but we didn't have to do much shaking with Yohai Sabag, chief data scientist for Optimove, a marketing AI and automation company in Israel. In this episode, he speaks about what humans are needed for in the optimization process, and what facets can be automated or distributed to a machine. Sabag gives an excellent walk-through of how marketers can use the "human-machine feedback loop" to optimize individual campaigns at scale.
You might be aware that some of the articles online about sports or financial performance of companies are article written by machines; this machine learning-based technology is the burgeoning field of natural language generation (NLG), which aims to create written content as humans would—in context— but at greater speed and scale. Yseop is one such enterprise software company, whose product suite turns data into written insight, explanations, and narrative. In this episode we interview Yseop's Vice President Matthieu Rauscher, who talks about the fundamentals of natural language generation in business, and what conditions need to be in place in order to drive key objectives. Rauscher also addresses the difference between discover-oriented machine learning (ML) and production-level ML, and why different industries might be drawn to one over the other.
There is in fact a dark side to AI, although we’re certainly not at the point where we need to fear terminators, but it’s certainly been leveraged toward malicious aims in a business context. In data security, tremendous venture dollars are going into preventing fraud and theft, but this same brand of technology is also being use by the “bad guys” to try and steal that information and break into those systems. In this episode, I speak with Justin Fier, director of cyber intelligence at Dark Trace, who speaks about the malicious uses of AI and how companies like Dark Trace have been forced to fight these “AI assailants”.
Most of our recent investor interviews have been Bay area investors, like Accenture and Canvas, and we don't usually get to speak with investors overseas, particularly in Asia. This week, however, we interviewed Tak Lo, a partner with Zeroth.ai, an accelerator program and cohort investing firm based in Hong Kong and focused on startup artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) companies. Lo speaks about when he saw AI take off in China and the differences in that rise compared to the U.S. He also gives valuable insight on consumer differences in how the two populations interact with technology, and how these differences in the Asian market drive different business opportunities in China than in the U.S.
If you're going to apply machine learning (ML) in a business context, you need a lot of data, and algorithms across the board perform better with more recent, rich, and relevant data. Today, there are companies whose entire business models are predicated on helping others make sense of and use of this type of information. In this episode, we speak with the CTO and Co-Founder of one such company—Palo Alto-based Cloudera. CTO Amr Awadallah, PhD, speaks with us this week about where he sees "data lakes" (or "data hubs", Cloudera's preferred term) and warehouses play an important role in ML applications in business. Based on his experiences helping a variety of companies in many countries set up data lakes, Amwadallah is able to distill and communicate these uses in three broad categories that apply across industries as companies look to solve tougher problems and ask more complex questions using unstructured data.
One facet of business that nearly any industry has in common is the need to stay on top of news in their respective market, including competitor strategies or understanding changes in news related to the field. Media monitoring is a domain that machine learning (ML) is well suited for, with it's ability to coax out headlines, contextual information, and financial data from the seemingly endless stream of social, blog, and other information on the web today. Signal is a company that uses ML specifically for these purposes. In this episode, we speak with Signal Media's Chief Data Scientist and Co-founder Dr. Miguel Martinez, who dives into real business use cases illustrating the use of machine learning for media monitoring across industries.
What does it mean to tune an algorithm, how does it matter in a business context, and what are the approaches being developed today when it comes to tuning algorithms? This week's guest helps us answer these questions and more. CEO and Co-Founder Scott Clark of SigOpt takes time to explain the dynamics of tuning, goes into some of the cutting-edge methods for getting tuning done, and shares advice on how businesses using machine learning algorithms can continue to refine and adjust their parameters in order to glean greater results.
In this episode, recorded live at Canvas Ventures in Portola Valley, I speak with Ben Narasin, a partner with Canvas and an avid venture investor in AI and ML companies, some of which we've interviewed (Crowdflower and Mulesoft), along with many others that we haven't (like Siri). Ben doesn't look for AI to invest in; instead, he looks for companies to invest in, a subtle but important difference in a business world increasingly caught up in the explosion of AI and ML technologies.
From investments in Nuance to more recent one such as Houzz, Narasin has solid ideas as to what makes an investment interesting when AI is involved, what might actually add value to a model with AI, and what's wholly irrelevant when it comes to overall business model. Besides making important distinctions on where investments can make a return and how to raise money for your AI startup, this interview is also chock full of great analogies (give me golden dragons all day long—anyone?)
There’s been lot of hype around AI and ML in business over the past five years. Even among investors exist a lot of misconceptions about using ML in a business context, and how to get up to speed on and grasp and understand leveraging related technologies in industry. Recently, I talked with Benjamin Levy of BootstrapLabs in San Francisco, who I met through an investment banking friend in Boston.
BootstrapLabs invests in Bay area companies, and Levy also travels around the world speaking about investing in AI companies and raising funds for new ventures. In this episode, Levy gives his perspective on what investors and executives get wrong about ML and and AI, and discusses how they can get up to speed on the applications for these technologies and leverage them and related expertise to really make a difference (i.e. increased ROI) in their businesses.
Uday Veeramachaneni is taking a new approach to machine learning in infosecurity, AKA infosec. Traditionally, infosec has approached predicting attacks in two ways: through a system of hand-designed rules, and through anomaly detection, a technique that detects statistical outliers in the data. The problem with these approaches, Veermachaneni says, is that the signal-to-noise ratio is too low. In this episode, Veermachaneni discusses how his company, PatternEx, is using machine learning to provide more accurate attack prediction. He also discusses the cooperative role of man and machine in building robust AI applications in data security and walks us through a common security attack scenario.
When it comes to finding an expert on interviewing and finding machine learning (ML) talent, Parshu Kulkarni may just be the guy to ask. Not only is Kulkarni one of a small subsegment of the global population with an advanced degree in data science who has also been hired to work in tech companies like eBay, but he's been on the unique side hiring of ML and AI talent. Today, Kulkarni works full-time as Head of Data Science at Hired, Inc., a giant platform for hiring top talent in tech and other areas. In this episode, he provide an interesting distinction between what individuals with experience in data science look for in potential hires versus those who do not have the tech background tend to look for, and also dives into the supply-and-demand landscape for data scientists now and in the future—an interesting interview for anyone looking to hire or be hired in the ML and AI space.
In marketing, there are lots of applications in AI and machine learning (ML), from recommendation engines to predictive analytics and beyond. At the company Adgorithms, there are even more ambitious projects underway - like automating the process of marketing altogether by having a machine run and generate ads, or test and spend the marketing budget of a company. Or Shani, CEO of Adgorithms, focuses on the quantitative aspects and optimization of online advertising, using algorithms to improve advertising processes. In this interview, Shani talks about how Adgorithms' smart marketing platform "Albert" meshes with humans’ role in marketing, and also discusses how these roles might change over the next 5 to 10 years as we move towards ever more automated marketing processes.
Not all knowledge work can be crunched by a program, but there are some hard-to-automate business processes that a select few entities are making an attempt to automate now. Boston-based Rage Frameworks, Inc. is one such company, and in this episode we speak with Senior Vice President (SVP) Joy Dasgupta about specific applications of automation technologies applied to white collar environments. Rage Frameworks has developed intelligent machines that have been able to take over process that, prior to the emergence of AI and automation technologies, would have required thousands of people to accomplish. These developments are a microcosm of what is to come, and the process is not without its ethical considerations (as discussed in a previous interview with Yoshua Bengio). But Dasgupta's insights provide a concrete glimpse into how these processes are being automated in the knowledge workplace today and what that might mean or look like decades from now.
This week we speak with CEO and Founder of Nexar Inc., Eran Shir, whose company has created a dashboard app that allows drivers to mount a smartphone, which then collects visual information and other data, such as speed from your accelerometer, in order to help detect and prevent accidents. The app also serves as a way to reconstruct what happens in a collision - a unique solution in a big and untapped market. In this episode, Shir gives his vision of a world where the roads are filled with cyborgs, rather than autonomous robots, i.e. people augmented with new sensory information that trigger notifications, warnings or prompts for safer driving behavior, amongst a network of cloud-connected cars. He also touches on what the transition might look like in response to the question - when will autonomous cars be mainstream?
In this episode, we speak with Senior Editor for the Economist in digital and data products and Co-author of "Big Data: A Revolution that Will Transform How We Work, Live and Think", Kenneth Cukier, who speaks on the technologies that underlie big data and make it what it is today. Cukier addresses common misconceptions about machine learning and dives into how companies can catch up with this technology by thinking through, assessing ROI, and making sense of the dynamics of big data. Listen for Cukier's apt analogy in comparing machine learning technology to the dynamics of computing from decades ago.
What are executives missing the boat on and what do they need to think about when it comes to AI and ML? This week, we speak with John Straw, who has had a number of businesses in the UK and US, currently a senior advisor to McKinsey & Co., and who works with a lot of executive teams in terms of finding new applications for AI and finding ROI for those technologies in industry. We speak this week about how executives can get up to speed, what degree of knowledge and in what way they should learn it so they can find opportunities in their own companies. Straw also touches on what he sees as the biggest areas of oversight, in terms of preventing companies from finding those applications that can keep them up to speed with competitors and the big technology players.
In many ways, AI and finance are made for each other. Machine learning and other techniques make it easier to identify patterns that might otherwise not be detected by the human eye, and finance is quantitative to begin with so that it’s hard not to find traction. Financial firms have also invested heavily in AI in the past, and more are starting to tap into the financial applications of machine learning (ML) and deep learning. This week, we’re joined by CEO and Co-founder of Kavout Alex Lu, whose company offers AI trading applications for enterprises and individuals. Lu speaks today about the kinds of patterns that traders now have access to in finance, and he gives examples of ways Kavout and other institutions are using artificial intelligence in stock trading to build better and more personalized products and services.
Market research and trends is important when discussing AI and business, but it's also worthwhile to contemplate the ethical and social implications further down the line. How will countries deal with potential unemployment problems? How might countries collaborate to hedge against the risks that AI poses to the future of work and other economic facets? A relatively small group is helping people do just that i.e. getting organizations and countries to think through how they could hedge against the grander risks inherent in a world powered by AI.
In this episode, we speak with Jerome Glenn, head of the Millennium Project, an initiative that focuses on research implementing the organizational means, operational priorities, and financing structures necessary to achieve the Millennium Development Goals or (MDGs). Glenn talks about how he gets principalities of the world to bring their big industrial players and the public to talk through possible scenarios that are 30, 40, even 50 years in the future, and about ways we might potentially hedge against risks and make the most of the upsides of AI in a global economy.
A medium-size business with a $20M marketing budget can run into issues when aiming to track an attribute, what marketing dollars brought in customers, etc. But when you're managing $90B for customers all over the world and working in every conceivable channel, things get all the more complicated. Josh Sutton, global head of Data and AI at Publicis.Sapient, speaks in this episode about the future of advertising attribution with machine learning. Specifically, Sutton discusses how his team of publicists is working on managing, tracking, and determining cohorts and attribution across more channels and numerous clients, and touches on ways that the company is applying ML to make sense of marketing data and spend marketing dollars more effectively.
I remember reading an article in Scientific American years ago about a poster of a person looking in the direction people sitting in a school dining room, and that this poster would make people sitting in the dining room less likely to litter. This seems like an absurd example of holding people accountable for their actions, but as it turns out, there are a lot more serious consequences to ensuring behavior change through observation, and one area where this matters is medicine.
Today, there’s a major issue with people who don't adhere to their medical regimens, only to relapse or experience more serious symptoms later on. This week's guest, Cory Kidd, CEO of Catalia Health and known for his work at MIT on human-robotic interaction, is working to help solve this problem by developing a robot that adds some of that physical presence and accountability. This is likely one of many novel medical AI applications that we're likely to see roll out in healthcare over the next decade.
Today's episode is about continual learning, a focus of Cogitai, a company dedicated to building AI's that interact and learn from the real world. Cogitai's Cofound and CEO Mark Ring talks about the differences between supervised and reinforcement, and how Cogitai intends to take reinforcement learning in the direction of continual learning. Ring also touches on where he sees an opportunity for applying continual learning in domains like vehicles, consumer apps, etc., and improving abstract levels of understanding by machines.
There’s not that many serial tech entrepreneurs in the legal space, but Gary Sangha is one of them. Sangha is CEO and founder of Lit IQ, which is applying machine learning and computational linguistics to legal documents to help lawyers avoid making drafting mistakes. In this episode, Sangha talks about where this type of software is most useful and legitimate, what the legal landscape in relationship to machine learning may look like in the next few years, and how this technology may apply across industries.
Some organizations are leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to help the world with research, some to help companies with marketing, and some are intent on ensuring that the future of AI doesn’t result in the end of humanity. Theres’a good likelihood that if you're reading this interview, that you're already familiar with OpenAI, an organization with the sole purpose of ensuring that the future of man and machines is a friendly one, and that the concentration of power and intelligence isn’t centralized in a way that would make AI a dangerous tool. In this episode, we speak with Ilya Sutskever, research director for Open AI. This was a fun but frustrating interview; Sutskever held his cards close to his chest, but we gain some perspective on what he considers to be areas of importance regarding the future of AI and considerations for safely furthering advances in the field.
Right now, you can take a picture of a flower in your garden and post it on social media to see if anyone knows its proper name. Wouldn’t it be nice, though, if a machine could identify the correct name and species in the picture you just took? Solving this problem in applications of machine vision is something that CEO Igal Raichelgauz and his team are working on at Cortica, a machine learning company that is not focused on deep learning, but is instead taking a more "shallow" approach. In this episode, Raichelgauz articulates Cortica's approach, which is based on neurology and goes against some of the current approaches in getting machines to learn. We discuss some of these primary differences and dive into Cortica's goals for applying machine vision in consumer products.
This week’s guest is Kimberly Powell, senior director of business development at NVIDIA. In an interview conducted at the 2016 AI Summit in San Francisco, Powell spoke with TechEmergence about GPUs and the factors that are making them easier to use, how Nvidia and others are working to make this technology more accessible to small businesses and startups, and about some of Nvidia’s and other similar players' innovations in the deep learning field.
Accenture is a pretty large company in the tech space, providing services to many of the Fortune 500 and global equivalents. They recently conducted a study of their own, combined with expertise from economists and AI researchers, about the longer-term economic impact of artificial intelligence on economies around the world. In this episode, I speak with Chief Technology Officer Paul Daughtery, who has been with Accenture since 1986, who was joined by Global Technology R&D Lead Marc Carrel-Billiard. We met up at a coffee shop after an AI Summit in San Francisco, and I asked Paul and Marc about what they had learned from this newly-published study and what they consider to be the significant impacts of AI and automation on the future job market.
Crowdsourcing is a relatively common term in technical vernacular today. Even if you're not a self-identified "techie", you may very may well have leveraged crowdsourcing in journalism, the sciences, public policy, or elsewhere. One area in which this concept hasn’t really taken off is in finance and hedge funds. In this episode, we speak with Richard Craib, founder of Numerai, about the company's model for pooling data science talent, using "anonymous" models to train financial data, and competing against one another, in which winners are rewarded in bitcoin to exchange through virtual markets. Craib speaks about his overarching vision for the company, and also delves into the past, present, and future of AI applications in finance.
What does the world look like when we can replicate human expertise in an assistant? Are we close to developing human-level chatbots that we can ask about law or medical conditions? We dive into this topic with Founder and CEO of exClone Dr. Riza Berkan, whose personal assistant and chat-bot company is leveraging day-to-day human conversational templates in machine learning technology in order to better approach the tough task of replicating human expertise through a machine. Berkan talks about the edge layer of his company's “secret sauce”, and touches on the future applications of what might manifest in this field in 5 to 10 years in medical and other consumer applications.
In one of our most recent consensus, we took a close look at future trends in artificial intelligence consumer applications, but it's also interesting to see what’s happening now in businesses. Chris Nicholson is the CEO of Skymind.io, which offers deep learning applications that integrate with Hadoop and Spark. In this episode, Nicholson sheds light on current trends that he sees across industries and best practices for implementing AI solutions to gain consistent return on investment.
We've interviewed a number of guests on TechEmergence, but very few who have had a serious part of their career in selling automobiles. But Michael Perry did just that for 5 years before founding Kit, his third startup - an AI application that works in marketing for small businesses and was acquired by Shopify in April 2016. In this episode, Perry speaks about how Kit and Shopify leverage AI on a daily basis, and how a “non-tech” person with no formal background in AI or data science can build a team for an AI project.
Martin Ford started off as a software entrepreneur in Silicon Valley, but became better known for his speaking and writing on robotics' and automation's influence on the job market after writing his best-selling book, Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future. In this episode, Martin talks about why he believes 'white collar' jobs (as opposed to blue) are at a higher risk for automation, and gives his predictions on how automation and robotics will impact the job market over the next 5 to 10 years.
As Senior Director and World Wide Head of the Cognitive Innovation Group at Nuance Communications, Mark Hanson works on bringing Nuance lab innovations to business applications, with the guiding goals of improving customer experience and business efficiency. In this episode, Hanson speaks about natural language processing (NLP), where he believes this technology is headed in the future and where it's driving value now, and how companies are applying NLP in Silicon Valley and elsewhere.
How do you know if you’ve made the right decision for a hire? Often, employers go off gut instinct and make a decision retrospectively, but it turns out AI might be able to help out in human resource management through shedding light on best hiring decisions. In this episode, Pasha Roberts, chief scientist at Talent Analytics, tells us about how his company is working on helping companies make better decisions before they hire by applying machine learning and artificial intelligence to various data points on a given applicant, including information from aptitude tests that may help predict not only performance but retention.
Big data is often a buzzword, but if you're trying to quantify data around homes in the U.S. and pair that with hard to quantify information - like images - you're likely running into the frontiers of machine learning technology. This is something Zillow deals with daily. In this episode, Stan Humphries, Chief Analytics Officer and Economist for Zillow, speaks about where they're leveraging machine learning and artificial intelligence (hint: almost everywhere), and what he believes are the keys for deriving real ROI opportunities using this technology. Humphries also offers insights for how other companies can model the successful decision-making processes and implementation strategies used by Zillow.
When Google’s DeepMind won against one of the best modern Go champions, is used multiple AI approaches and exposed gaps in some individual strategies. This even has shed more light on AI, but also on the utility in combining approaches to AI for individual problems. Data security is one of these problem areas where multiple AI approaches is being used to make our information safer. Dr. Sal Stolfo has been a professor at Columbia in Computer Science since 1972 and is now also the CEO of Allure Security, with a focus on engineering network intrusion detection solutions using AI applications. In this episode, Stolfo talks about the various styles of AI and statical methods that have been and are being used to detect malicious activity, as well as how he believes the future of security is going to have to adapt as increasing amounts of data become available.
This episode's guest is Uri Sarid, CTO at Mulesoft. Sarid speaks about where he believes the future of machine learning (ML) applications in industry might go - he thinks applications might stay small and niche-based, and will develop based on how well they each serve their individual purposes. He also speaks on his belief that companies will get used to dealing with disparate ML technologies and that finding ways to connect these technologies will be an important path for future trends in technology development.
It isn’t by chance that birds fly in flocks and fish swim in schools - they’re actually smarter when they act in a group. Could it be possible to extend that collective intelligence to human beings, and even AI? Louis Rosenberg is a PhD from Stanford, previously founder of Immersion and who now runs Unanimous AI, a company focusing on harnessing swarm intelligence with human beings. In this episode, Rosenberg speaks about how this collective-intelligence approach has been applied to human beings in terms of garnering improvements in a range of predictions, and he also touches on what this type of swarm intelligence might mean when we talk about multiple AI’s in the future.
Predictive analytics and machine learning are all the rage in Silicon Valley, but how do companies actually derive value by leveraging these technologies? We asked this question to Dr. Ronen Meiri, CTO and Founder of DMWay, a predictive analytics and machine learning platform company based in Israel. In this episode, Ronen speaks about what his company does and how smart executives are starting to make decisions how to choose and decide on the a smart, user-friendly platform that fits their business' needs.
Our guest in this episode has spent a large part of his life on figuring out how to make machines more intelligent. LoopAI Chief Scientist Patrick Ehlen has worked on a number of important projects, from DARPA projects to big-company AI solutions at places like AT&T. LoopAI works on getting AI to make sense and meaning of unstructured text, and Ehlen talks about the potential business applications for this technology and where it's making way its way into industry. Ehlen also touches on the implications for developers in the nascent AI field - like LoopAI - that are vying to implement its technology as an industry standard, and how such organizations will have to market themselves and deliver services to develop a thriving AI ecosystem.
This week's guest is Senior Vice President of SPARK, an economic development organization dedicated to getting startups and other early-stage companies off the ground in Ann Arbor. Skip Simms speaks on how to convey complex technologies to investors who don’t necessarily have your technical expertise, and still close the deal and get the investment. Simms talks about companies he’s seen do this well (and not so well), and how aspiring companies can do a better job of convincing investors to get in on new or unfamiliar technologies, something many AI company founders will have to deal with in some shape or form in launching a new entity.
For some companies, big data remains an abstraction; for others, it's an integral part of the lifeblood of a business. Mat Harris is vice president at Sojern, a travel marketing platform that has leveraged big data to grow $3 billion in bookings and 1/3 of a billion traveler profiles across its platform. In this episode, Harris speaks about how Sojern and other businesses are using a combination of their data and other sources of data (what he calls third and "second" data sources) in order to make informed marketing decisions and better market their services to buyers. Harris sheds light on the direct ROI for big data in different businesses, and it's an interesting episode from the perspective of an executive who is using big data to make decisions on business directions.
Companies looking to raise money are often asking what investors think of their company, their industry, and how they're making investment decisions in related companies. In this episode, I ask these questions of Robert Seidel, who is managing partner of Motus Ventures, an investment firm focusing on autonomous Vehicles and the IoT. Seidl talks about various data sources and the people and networks from which investors draw information when they don’t have what they need on-hand and need to make important investment decisions. He also shares his perspective on the high-energy and competitive investment world of AI, including his thoughts on the most exciting (and confusing) areas in the industry.
This week's interview was recorded live at Nuance's Silicon Valley office with guest Charlie Ortiz, director of the AI and Natural Language (NL) Processing Lab for Nuance Communications in Silicon Valley. In this episode, Ortiz speaks about what he sees as the most important developments in natural language processing (NLP) over the last few years, what advancements brought us to where we are today, and where progress might take NLP in the coming years ahead (both at Nuance and beyond).
Fifteen years ago, investing in AI may have seemed a bit far-fetched, but today it's not at all a rare occurrence; however, it's more rare to find entire firms dedicated to investing entirely in AI. In today's episode, we're joined by Saman Farid, co-founder of Comet Labs, an investment firm focused on investment in AI companies across industries. He speaks about his investment hypothesis in the future of AI, why he’s decided to hone his funds in this domain, and the different domains where he believes AI is ripe to disrupt on a global level in the coming few years.
One of the most memorable moments from this interview is when our guest mentioned that Larry Page hired him to solve intelligence; very few people can say this, and this says something about today’s guest, Dr. Nando de Freitas - a senior researcher at Google and professor at Oxford - as well as the gravity of his present work. Today, I speak with Nando about a topic well known through his research at Google, deep learning. de Freitas gives his perspective on the basics of deep learning, the applications in conversational interfaces and recognizing images and videos, and what the future of this technology might look like in the nearer future.
In this episode, we speak with Dr. Matteo Berlucchi, the founder of Your.MD, which uses artificial intelligence to create one of the first personal health assistant platforms in 70+ countries. Berlucchi talks about the challenges in making an AI do what you want, specifically helping people self diagnose and seek proper treatment. He discusses the multiple approaches to AI that are blended together in order to yield optimal results, and touches on the sometimes stark differences between what AI can do in the lab versus the functional application for tens of thousands of people. If you're interested in the diverse applications of AI and the challenges in running a startup, Dr. Berlucci's makes for an interesting episode.
CTO and Co-founder of Sumo Logic Christian Beedgen gives his take on how to glean return on investment from applying machine learning to companies. There are no easy answers, but Beedgen boils down simple concepts for thinking about humans thinking through causation, machines working out correlations, and how the combination of the two can glean us better ideas and get to answers faster than humans could do alone.
Artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality (VR) are often seen as different trends, but there is a lot of overlap in these areas, where you might not expect. Lucid VR's CTO Adam Rowell speaks today about how AI plays a role in making VR work, augmenting the accuracy of images and making a more immersive and convincing experience for users. Rowell also touches on non-gaming VR apps that he and his company are excited about launching in the future.
At Facebook headquarters, I learned there are 1 billion active users every month. In a more recent interview at eBay headquarters in San Jose, l learned that the well-known digital store has over 1 billion products for sale. eBay is, without a doubt, the world’s largest marketplace, and there’s enough incoming data to keep a large team of data scientists busy for years. I speak with Zoher Karu, eBay’s Chief Data Officer, about how eBay leverages data and machine learning to create a better experience for its customers and also their sellers, shedding light on important lessons for anyone looking to sell a product online.
In this week’s episode, I speak with Igor Baikalov, Chief Scientist at cybersecurity company Securonix, about the trends in data security and where security itself has had to take a step up in the last five years. Igor touches on major meta-trends that have forced data security to advance, as well as what has made AI and machine learning a ‘requirement’ of modern data security strategy, something that has changed significantly in the last decade. Igor sheds light on these issues and likely future trends in cybersecurity over the next five to 10 years.
In this week's episode, we feature an in-person interview from Facebook's headquarters with Hussein Mehanna, director of engineering of the Core Machine Learning group. Mehanna and I talk in-depth about the topic of personalization, touching on the pros and cons, how it works at Facebook, and how his team is working to overcome technological barriers to implement personalization in a way that improves the customer experience.
When one thinks through important industry apps of AI, law or legal apps are not usually the first to jump to mind, but there’s certainly a need. Richard Downe, Ph.D. is Vice President of Data Science at Casetext, a startup working on improving search and natural language processing and democratizing legal information. In this episode, he speaks about the current bottlenecks for people trying to get more out of legal case documents, as well as some of the apps on which the Casetext team is working, to make these processes easier and to gain a strategic advantage in this industry.
Learning about the research behind machine learning is always fun, but so is learning about the real-world applications. In today’s episode, we’re joined by the CEO and founder of Wrike, Andrew Filev. Filev speak about where Wrike is currently applying machine learning and AI in their fast-growing, data-driven company. He shares his insights as to why he thinks marketing might be the most ripe for disruption by AI, and also discusses how most companies can prepare to take advantage of machine learning in any industry.
Today we have a guest who has interviewed more futurists than anyone else I know. While at TechEmergence a lot of our interviews focus on executives in AI, Nikola Danaylov has had the pleasure of interviewing some of the finest futurists and forward-thinking minds in the world, including Ray Kurzweil, Verner Vinge, Marvin Minsky, and many others. We speak today about the trends he’s seen aggregated (if any) amongst futurists, and about how technology may be dragging us farther into a transhuman future, whether that be closer to a utopia or a dystopia.
A lot of companies in the San Francisco Bay make the claim that they can do something great with data; many fewer are at a degree of scale to make this vision possible. Today we speak with Nicholas Clark, CEO of DoubleDutch, a company now powering thousands of events nationally and implementing machine learning into their operations, including predicting business results from actual attendees. DoubleDutch is at the beginning of its journey with predictive analytics, having to make hard choices around what sort of information and thought processes they need in order to use machine learning and remain profitable. Nicholas gives his perspective on these decisions, as well as how he thinks DoubleDutch’s efforts will impact the conference/event industry at scale.
Natural language processing (NLP) sounds cool in theory. We’re familiar with Siri and Echo of course, but where does it play a role in other companies? In today’s episode, we speak with Samiur Rahman from Mattermark, whose entire business model is predicated on organizing and making findable information about companies, and generating a platform to search by unique criterion. Doing so involves some conceptual work with NLP to make things findable. Samiur talks about what Mattermark is doing with this technology now and where he thinks the future may take the field, and interesting topic for investors and founders alike.
We’ve spoken in the past about computer vision on the TechEmergence show, but we haven’t covered much about it in industry apps. Few businesses have better mastered this technology in the form of an app better than Shutterstock. In today’s episode, we speak with Nathan Hurst, currently a distinguished engineer with Shutterstock and previously with Google, Amazon, and Adobe. Nathan delves into the topic of business apps that can “see”, and touches on what that means for the industry, some of the exciting developments that he’s seen over last the 10 years, and what he sees coming up in the next few years.
In addition to focusing on industry applications of artificial intelligence and emerging technology, we also focus on ethical and societal impacts of emerging technology. In this episode, we get back to ethics with Wendell Wallach, a scholar at Yale’s Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics and author of “A Dangerous Master”, which addresses tech governance and other emerging technology issues. In this week’s episode, Wendell talks about the problems of governing technologies that are developing faster than we can possibly assess all the risks, a topic that Wendell has thought about in-depth through both his extensive consulting, speaking and writing.
The artificial intelligence field is normally seen as burgeoning and new, populated with lots of small, scrappy companies aiming to become the next de-facto solution, with maybe one exception - “Big Blue”. IBM has been involved since the ‘beginning’ and is perhaps best known for Watson, which has from Jeopardy to a range of applications in small and big businesses, as well as the public sector. Swami Chandrasekaran is Chief Technologist of Industry Apps and Solutions for IBM, and he speaks in this episode about what he sees as some of the low-hanging fruit for applying predictive models to business data. Swami has seen this technology applied in a variety of contexts, from automotive and shipping to telcos and more, providing an informed perspective for industry executives, data scientists, and anyone else interested in the intersection of predictive analytics and business.
“Artificial intelligence (AI) can be seen as a progression in our scalability of labor.” This quote comes from this week’s guest, Naveen Rao, who received his PhD in Neuroscience from Brown before becoming CEO at Nervanasys, which works on full stack solutions to help companies solve machine learning (ML) problems at scale. In this week’s episode, Rao speaks about certain domains in industry where he feels optimistic about machine learning (ML) making a difference in the next five to 10 years, providing interesting perspectives that include advances in the areas of agriculture and oil & gas.
Many employers (and employees) are familiar with the ‘painful’ learning curves of using multiple software products or platforms at once, but these may not be gripes you want to share with Amotz Maimon. This week, we feature an interview recorded at Yahoo headquarters with its Chief Architect, Amotz Maimon. He speaks about technology governance and how companies small and large can make faster and better decisions around what technologies to use, how to integrate and streamline the processes, and how to integrate machine learning into the mix (which Yahoo has been using for the past decade). This episode provides important insights for those looking to scale such technologies within their own businesses.
If you’re in the San Francisco Bay area, it’s not all that novel to be trained in or working on some form of AI; however, to be doing so in the 1980s and 1990s was a more rare occurrence. Dr. Lorien Pratt has been working with neural nets and AI applications for many decades, and she does lots of consulting work in implementing these technologies with companies in the Bay area. In this episode, Lorien provides her unique perspective on decades of development and adoption in AI as we ask, where is the traction today in places where it wasn’t 5 or 10 years ago? We also discuss where Lorien thinks machine learning applications in business and government seem to be headed in the near term.
When we think about applying AI and data science to different areas of business, we often think about those domains that offer a wide swath of quantitative metrics that we can feed a machine, like marketing or finance. Human resources (HR) normally doesn’t fit the bill. How we hired someone, how we felt about them when we hired them, how they perform qualitatively, these are things that are often difficult to discern in team dynamics. That being said, big teams like Google are applying machine learning (ML) to some of their HR choices, and our guest today believes more companies will be doing the same in future. CEO of Humanyze Ben Waber applies ML to HR decision-making, helping people get better employees and better performance by measuring and improving using data science in new ways.
There are hedge funds and financial institutions that already use real-time data and sentiment analysis from social media, articles and videos in real-time to potentially make better trading decisions - but what does it mean when those same companies can use real-time satellite information to detect company activities and make trades based on that data? In this episode, Research Director of Capital Markets at Celent Securities discusses the focus on emerging technologies in trading and finance. He talks about the way that analytics and machine learning have affected the ways banks operate, the kinds of data that hedge funds and individual investors now have at their fingertips, and what that means for the future implications of AI-related technology in the finance world.
Ten years ago, it would have been difficult to talk into your phone and have anything meaningful happen. AI and natural language processing (NLP) have made large leaps in the last decade, and in this episode Dr. Catherine Havasi articulates why and how. Havasi talks about how NLP used to work, and how a focus on deep learning has helped transform the prevalence and capabilities of NLP in the industry. For the last 17 years, Havasi has been working on a project through the MIT Media Lab called ConceptNet, a common sense lexicon for machines. She is also Founder of Luminoso, which helps businesses make sense of text data and improve their business processes.
When it comes to data science and machine learning, what are the related skills that are getting people jobs and what are the industries that are supplying those in-demand jobs? These are two important questions that we discuss in this week’s episode with CrowdFlower’s CEO Lukas Biewald, whose company is providing a pragmatic perspective of the industry by focusing on assessing job listings and related information in the field of data science. If you’re a company that is interested in finding someone with in-demand data science and related skills, or if you’re in the market to find a position in this field, this episode will likely be very useful!
When you go to Harvard Business School and then to McKinsey company to work in private equity, there’s really only one thing left to do - go to Silicon Valley and start an AI startup. At least, this is exactly what CEO Praful Krishna did when he moved to San Francisco to start Coseer, an AI company focused on understanding natural language and unstructured data. In this week’s episode, we speak about where unstructured data lives in a business, and how a business can be changed if the right data is unlocked. Krishna also discusses his experience in how executives are making decisions around how or how not to leverage AI in their companies.
While we’ve featured quite a few companies that use and implement AI systems, we’ve more rarely gone behind the scenes with companies or consultants providing AI-related services to companies. In this week’s episode, we talk with Machine Learning Consultant Charles Martin, a data scientist and machine learning expert who has done freelance consulting on machine learning systems at companies including eBay, GoDaddy, and Aardvark. In this interview, Charles talks about the areas in AI that he believes are ripe for implementation in a business context, and where he sees businesses getting AI ‘wrong’ before getting to the hard work of implementing systems that work for them.
Tad Slaff is the founder of Inovance, the creator of TRAIDE - a strategy creation platform that use machine learning algorithms to help traders uncover patterns in assets and indicators and build more reliable trading strategies. In this episode, Tad speaks about the state of machine learning in finance today, and touches on how future applications of machine learning and trends may alter what gives an edge to one hedge fund or institutional investor over another.
It’s more common to ask what AI can to do to win at games, but it’s less common to ask what games can do to help develop AI. This is a particularly fitting topic after Google’s DeepMind’s defeat of Go, and in this episode we talk with New York University’s Julian Togelius about his research in how games can help us develop AI. We discuss how simple AI has been used in more common video games; the ‘smoke and mirrors’ effect that is more often used to mimic AI; and the more innovative ways that AI are being used in gaming at present, setting precedents for the future role of AI in gaming.
What is intelligence? For some researchers, it may be quite possible to create an intelligent machine ‘in a box’, something without physical embodiment but with a powerful mind. Others believe general intelligence requires interaction with the outside world, inferring information from gestures and other features of functioning in an environment. Dr. Vincent Müller is of the belief that intelligence may involve more than just mental algorithms and may need to include the capacity to sense rather than just run a program. Vincent focuses on cognitive systems as an approach to AI, and in this episode he talks about what this means and implies, how this approach is different from classical AI, and what this might permit in the future if the field is developed.
You’re a business, and you’ve collected data - now how do you now make sense of it? Bring in a technology called ‘sentiment analysis’, a form of machine learning that determines whether text is positive or negative. Slater Victoroff’s company Indico provides a sentiment analysis API product that specializes in this task. In this episode, we talk about about the common misconceptions that businesses have about where ‘big data’ may be applicable, and the lessons he’s learned by gaining more tangible insights from smaller sets of data for companies. He explains why big data is not necessarily better, and discusses the steps that companies should take early on to make sure they’re prepared when it’s time to apply machine learning to their processes.
How does automation influence society today? This is an open-ended question with likely endless answers that can be observed in many different areas of society. As a Writer, Speaker, and Professor in Media Theory and Economics, Douglas Rushkoff has made it his livelihood to examine the impacts of automation in our evolving digital society. In this episode, we speak about his 'disappointment' in how automation has been used by many industries without regard for employees' long-term well being, and how a cultural shift in industry priorities may be what's needed to make automation beneficial for the majority.
This week's in-person interview is with Dr. Adam Coates, who spent 12 years at Stanford studying artificial intelligence before accepting his current position of Director of Baidu's Silicon-Valley based artificial intelligence lab. We speak about his ideas around consumer artificial intelligence applications and impact and what he's excited about, as well as what he thinks may be more 'hype' than reality. He gives a an idea about applications that Baidu is working, to potentially influence billions of mobile and computer users worldwide. If you're interested in the developments of speech recognition and natural language processing, this is an episode you won't want to miss.
People often mark progress by what they see, but there’s often much more going on behind the scenes, the up and coming, that marks actual current progress in any particular field. The same can said to be true for natural language processing, and Dr. Dan Roth’s research in this field makes him privy to the advancements that most of us are bound to miss.
In this episode, Dr. Dan Roth explains what the last 10 years of progress in natural language processing (NLP) have brought us, what’s happening with approaches in developing this technology today, and what the next steps might be in a computer capable of real conversational speech and understanding language in context.
How do neural networks affect your life? There’s the one that you walk around with in your head of course, but the one in your pocket is an almost constant presence as well. In this episode, we speak with Dr. Yoshua Bengii about how the neural nets in computer software have become more ubiquitous and powerful, with deep learning algorithms and neural nets permeating research and commercial applications over the past decade. He also discusses likely future opportunities for deep learning in areas like natural language processing and individualized medicine. Bengio was a researcher at Bell Labs with Yann LeCun and Geoffrey Hinton, now at Facebook and Google respectively, and was working on neural nets before they were the "cool" new AI technology that they're seen as today.
Statements about AI and risk, like those given by Elon Musk and Bill Gates, aren’t new, but they still resound with serious potential threats to the entirety of the human race. Some AI researchers have since come forward to challenge the substantive reality of these claims. In this episode, I interview a self-proclaimed “old timer” in the field of AI who tells us we might be too preemptive about our concerns of AI that will threaten our existence; instead, he suggests that our attention might be better honed in thinking about how humans and AI can work together in the present and near future.
TechEmergence has had a number of past guests who have talked about neural networks and machine learning, but Dr. Pieter Mosterman speaks in-depth about the pendulum swing in this approach to AI from the 1960s to today. What we call neural networks as a general approach to developing AI has come in and out of favor two or three times in the last 50+ years. In this episode, Dr. Pieter Mosterman speaks about the shift in this approach and why neural networks have gone in and out of favor, as well as where the pendulum may take us in the not-too-distant future.
Few astrophysicists are as decorated as Martin Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow, who was a primary contributor to the big-bang theory and named to the honorary position of UK's astronomer royal in 1995. His work has explored the intersections of science and philosophy, as well as human beings’ contextual place in the universe. In his book "Our Final Century", published in 2003, Rees warned about the dangers of uncontrolled scientific advance, and argued that human beings have a 50 percent chance of surviving past the year 2100 as a direct result. In this episode, I asked him why he considers AI to be among one of the foremost existential risks that society should consider, as well as his thoughts around how we might best regulate AI and other emerging technologies in the nearer term.
When we think about AI, we often think about optimizing some particular task. In most circumstances through computation there is an optimal chess move, or an optimal way to determine pattern in data, or solve a math problem, or route info through servers. Most of us are aware of these uses, but what about creative tasks? Can these also be optimized? If we want to give a computer information and tell it to create powerpoint slides, is there an optimal way to create such slides? Dr. Philippe Pasquier’s computational research is focused on artificial creativity. In this episode, we talk about how to define a very new field, train machines in this area, and also discuss trends and developments that might permit such technology to thrive in the next 10 years.
There’s a small lab in Pennsylvania that may know your gender, age, and understands facets about your personality, whether you’re introverted or extroverted, for example…and it's using machine learning to help make conclusions from social media information. For those who are raising an eyebrow, know that they’re not tapping into people’s accounts without permission. The described study is happening at University of Pennsylvania and is led in part by Dr. Lyle Ungar. In this episode, we talk about the focus of his work - on finding patterns between users and their language on social media content, and building an understanding for how this information might help individuals and communities in the future.
We’ve featured a number of artificial intelligence researchers on the show, but today we switch gears and dive into the business side of the industry. In this episode, Dr. Mazin Gilbert (who earned his PhD in Engineering) breaks down AT&T’s efforts to make more intelligent systems large-scale. How do they train their network to route traffic through the right nodes on holidays, when certain areas of traffic are overloaded? How can a system know, based on signals from hardware, which pieces might be going bad and need replacing and send out a message to alert the company? Making a network ‘aware’ is a large challenge, but Mazin gives an insider’s perspective as to how economic and business pressures are driving AT&T to implement machine learning technologies in order to remain profitable.
Are we losing something with technology? There are two sides to every argument, including this one. Dr. Sherry Turkle is of the belief that there’s enough mounting scientific evidence that points toward loss of empathy and self knowledge due to increasing interaction with machines. In this episode, we discuss Dr. Turkle’s research and her subtle fears for the future, particularly of those about machines that replicate emotions or conversation but that don’t actually feel anything - is the ability to form real connections between two beings at risk of being lost?
A lot of AI applications are not really “smart”, at least not in the sense of the word as most humans might envision a true artificial intelligence. If you know how Deep Blue beat Gary Kasparov, for example, then you may not believe that Watson is a legitimate thinking machine. Our guest this week, Dr. Pei Wang, is of the belief that building a Artificial “General” Intelligence (AGI), what researchers define as an entity with human-like cognition, is a separate question from figuring out AI applications in the more narrow sense. In this episode, Dr. Wang lays out three differentiating factors that separate AGI from AI in general, and also talks about three varied and active approaches being taken to try and accomplish AGI.
It goes without saying that the brain is difficult to understand, with the billions of neurons, fine individual synapses between each neuron, and the different regions responsible for the innumerable behaviors exhibited by human beings. A new burgeoning and promising intermediary field called Connectomics is making waves in mapping the brain and figuring out how these various connections work together to make us sentient. In this episode with Dr. Olaf Sporns, who is in part credited with coming up with the term Connectomics, we explore the progress that’s been made in this new field in the past decade, and take a tentative but hopeful look ahead at what the next decade might bring as the field progresses into its adolescence.
Ever had the perfect book recommended to you by Amazon or gave a pleasantly-surprised thumbs up for a song selected for you by Pandora? Both services are powered by recommendation engines, which are gaining steam int he commercial space. In this episode, we speak with Entrepreneur Raefer Gabriel, who works for Delvv on the commercial applications of recommendation engines. We talk about how this technology works, and how it comes to learn from reviews, ratings, and consumer interactions. Gabriel also gives perspective on how these engines might be enhanced and applied in the future, a good topic for those of you in the startup world.
The beauty of a platform like eBay is that you can set a price that you’re willing to spend and let eBay do the bidding long after you’ve left the site. What if, in similar fashion, your washing machine could turn on and serve up clean clothes once it had found the cheapest rate and time of day by autonomously communicating with local electricity providers?
In this episode, we discuss multi-agent intelligent systems with Computer Scientists Dr. Mehdi Dastani, who provides a perspective on how this emerging dynamic technology is changing the landscape of how and how companies and governments operate, allowing for greater systemic change that might not be possible otherwise.
Over the last decade, many first-world militaries have developed, and in some cases deployed, autonomous “killer” robots. Some proponents believe that such robots will save human lives, but another side believes that an accidental arms race of this type would yield long-term detriments that outweigh any good. University of Sheffield’s Dr. Noel Sharkey stands by the latter argument.
As Co-Founder for the International Committee for Robot Arms Control, he has spent a good part of the last decade trying to create an international ban on such robots. In this episode, he speaks about the developments in the domain of autonomous killer robots, as well as how groups of global leaders might come together to convince nations and other global policy platforms to adhere to such an agreement for the benefit of all humankind.
Most of us forget that just about a decade ago, Facebook’s software was incapable of tagging people in a photo, but today can so without difficulty, sometimes without us even knowing. Machine vision has progressed to the point where it’s also common for computers to be able to pick out dogs from cats in images, another task that was not possible 10 years ago.
In this episode, we talk with Dr. Irfan Essa, an expert in Computer Vision at the Georgia Institute of Technology (GA Tech), about progress made in machine vision over the last 10 years, related projects in the works today, and where machine vision may be headed in the next decade.
Have you ever seen a humanoid robot and felt creeped out? In this episode, we talk with Robotics Engineer Derek Scherer about the psychology of the uncanny valley and our relationships with robots. Scherer talks about the factors in robotics that tend to spook people and provoke a feeling of disgust, and how we might be able to move beyond this resistance as they become a more active part of the social fabric of our society.
Most of society functions based on a general social contract i.e. we work to contribute to society and earn income to acquire goods. Those who can’t earn an income are required in some fashion to validate why.
In this episode with Federico Pistono, an entrepreneur, author, and futurist, asks if this contract is the only way to exist as a society. In a more automated world, is this contract the best long-term structure for the common welfare? Pistono and I discuss what a future society might be like with an altered social contract i.e. a general minimum wage for all, how this might affect our approach to "work", and the avenues for testing out such a contract in society today.
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Neural network - it’s almost a buzz word, but it was looked down on during certain periods of AI development. Nonetheless, most of the public is not aware of what a neural network is, how it works, and how we can create an artificial one.
CEO and Founder of Imagination Engines, Inc., Dr. Stephen Thaler gives us some insight today on how neural networks create what we call creativity, and provides his perspective on how a neural net eventually merges to give way to consciousness.
Cyber security is closely linked to advances in artificial intelligence. In this episode, we speak with Dr. Roman V. Yampolskiy about the cyber security factors and risks associated with AI. How is AI both causing risks, and how can AI be used to combat those risks? We dive briefly into the future to speak about some of the potential 'super' AI risks to cyber security and touch on what can be done now to help hedge the unknown.
It's common knowledge that scientists study the brain to understand how to replicate intelligence in machines; it's less commonly known that scientists also use machine models to understand how the mind works. In this episode, we talk with Dr. Ashok Goel, a researcher in the field of cognitive systems who sheds light on this idea. Dr. Goel also speaks about his perspective on where machines are becoming more creative, and what the future might look like if machines begin to reflect on their "identities" as humans do.
Over 100,00 years ago, it may have been advantageous for human beings to be hyper aware of other living things for the purposes of survival. In the future, between the IoT and advances in AI, we once again find ourselves ever more aware. Erik Davis, the author of TechGnosis and a praised journalist and speaker, explores the intersection of the technical, spiritual, and often mystical. In this episode, we discuss how our gut reactions to AI often spring from evolutionary or cultural reasons, and how this shapes our reactions to technology and guides our development of it in the 21st century.
Most of us can admire AI such as Siri, Watson, and other agents shaping the fabric of future AI-powered entities, but it's also possible to admire them as a “dead end”. Dr. Alexei V. Samsonovich is one researcher who believes that we won't be close to perceiving AI as 'conscious' machines until we can grant them the necessary emotional intelligence. Though a lot of progress has been made in field of intelligent agents in the last 10 years, many researchers who are in the same camp as Samsonovich are now on a mission to develop human-like intelligence, cognitive abilities, emotional and social intelligence, and common sense reasoning.
Dr. James D. Miller, an Economics and AI researcher who received his doctorate from the University of Chicago, sheds light on how economics factors into our increasingly automated world, where development is growing exponentially. We discuss how this acceleration may (or may not) help materialize the "Singularity", the theorized point at which society is so drastically revolutionized by technologies that we never return to our past ways of life.
Dr. Danko Nikolic, a scientist at the Max-Planck Institute for Brain Research, asks and works to answer questions about how our physical neuronal connections create the mind's perceptions. In the realm of AI, Danko zones in on learning in a newborn human and compares that to a robot. He asks how we can take human lessons, what’s built into our genome, and apply that to construct a more generally intelligent AI, in a way that is not being done today.
After receiving her PhD in Computer Science from the University of New York in 2002, Dr. Sheryl Brahnam's research interests steered her toward studying human abuse and misuse with computers, specifically conversational agents such as Siri, phone-based auto agent systems, and even chat support. Her research yields questions in relative new territory: Are AI prone to receiving misuse?; why do people misuse these agents in ways that they would not treat a human?; and, what types of regulations will we need as AI improves and becomes more intelligent?
Dr. Joscha Bach is a software developer and researcher, who is currently developing a cognitive AI framework at MIT Media Lab and the Harvard Program for Evolutionary Dynamics. In this episode, he speaks about the troubles in projecting when strong AI may be developed, and sheds light on the trends taking us there, including deep and reinforcement learning.
Is it possible to make AI friendly to humans via software or will we have to hardwire consideration for humanity into an advanced AI? Louis Del Monte, best-selling author and expert in the field of Artificial Intelligence, argues the latter. In this discussion, Del Monte talks about how he came to these conclusions and wrote a book on the topic, in part inspired by a particular AI study that provoked his grave concern for where AI may take us in the future.
Dr. András Kornai wants to put emphasis on the real and near-term ethical considerations around AI. In this interview, Kornai peels off the Hollywood myth "layers" around consciousness and AI in order to spotlight the very real, present, and advancing algorithms. He explains how such algorithms, which are slowly taking over the financial, medical, and automotive industries, are increasingly relevant as machines start to govern and make more decisions in our everyday interactions.
Daniel Berleant is an expert in information science and artificial intelligence, and is the author of the book he Human Race to the Future: What Could Happen - and What to Do. In this interview, we discuss how robots and automation are already affecting industry, and how these impacts might shape not only the future landscape of our economy, but also our conception of what it means to work and earn a living.
Katherine Hayles is best known for her work as a postmodern social and literary critic. Now a professor at Duke University, Hayles joins TechEmergence for a discussion about the difference between consciousness and cognition, from the features that differentiate the two to the types of technologies that facilitate each. Hayles contributes her views on how the technologies of the future may impact human consciousness and the very role of human being
Could we one day upload ourselves into a computer or chip? Keith Wiley thinks that one day, we might be able to replicate consciousness within another entity. In this episode, Dr. Wiley speaks to us about why uploading human identity in a computer substrate might be possible in the coming decades, and the type of progress we’re making today in the areas of computing and mapping the brain.
When should we care about robots? How quickly should and will that change? These are just some of the thought points addressed by Professor David Gunkel, whose work on the moral valuations of AI is some of the first of its kind. In this interview, we consider the extent to which our “moral weighing” of other entities is arbitrary, and ask what a biased process might imply when we create other aware entities.
We talk a lot about the future of technology on TechEmergence - the long-road potentials and ethical considerations that intersect the various paths of artificial intelligence. But keeping the conversation real and present necessitates looking through binoculars rather than a telescope from time to time.
In this episode, Eyal Amir, Associate Professor of Computer Science at University of Illinois and Co-Founder of Parknav and AI Incube, Inc., gives his zoomed-in perspective of the types of technological progress that he believes will be relevant in the next 5 to 10 years.
Do you need a body to think? This is a worthwhile (and also a perplexing) question, and an ongoing debate amongst roboticists. Cognitive Roboticist Dr. Mark Bickhard is part of a field of belief that cognition and intelligence - and maybe consciousness itself - requires embodiment and direct interaction with the world. In this interview, he discusses the concept of normative function and self maintenance in entities, and why this matters when it comes to thinking.
Stephan Vladimir Bugaj is a modern visionary with extensive experience in screenwriting, technical artistry and directing in animation and games. He is the Creative Director at Hanson Robotics, where he specializes in robot personality and functional design. He is also a writer-director for WakingUp media and Visioneer studios, two screenwriting and production companies, and part of the story "brain trust" for Limitless VR. Stephan worked for over 10 years as a screenwriter and technical director with Pixar Animation Studios, and before that was a multimedia researcher at Bell Labs and artificial intelligence developer at Intelligenesis/Webmind.
In this episode, Stephan draws on his robotics background to articulate what it takes to give a humanoid robot a "personality", and explains the differences between responses and propensities. Androids are already making news in the entertainment and retail industries, but we delve into why the health sector is next, and how culture might influence social acceptance.
Do lobsters really have something to teach us about developing AI and robotics?
Dr. Joseph Ayers, a professor of Marine and Environmental Sciences at Northeastern University, has dedicated his research and work to the subject and has paved new directions for the future of AI and robotics in the domain of biomimetics.
In this episode, Dr. Ayers provides a comprehensive overview of his development of autonomous underwater robots that help discover and destroy dangerous underwater land mines, and the potential for other animal-like robots to perform other “dull and dangerous” services for humankind. He provides a concluding perspective on two major obstacles facing robotics, one of which is the concept of autonomy, providing valuable insight in light of the current events around autonomous AI.
Dr. Bruce MacLennan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Tennessee Knoxville (UTK), as well as past editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Nanotechnology and Molecular Computation. His research in natural computation has led to active, interdisciplinary involvement in the fields of neuroscience, cognitive science, and philosophy.
In this episode, Bruce discusses how studying the mind has influenced, and will continue to influence, the development of artificial intelligence. In a largely digital world, he turns a clarifying light on the topic of digital versus analog computing, and articulates on how the latter may be making a slow comeback in the wake of discoveries in neural information processing.
Dr. Peter Boltuc has a PhD in Philosophy and is currently a Professor at University of Illinois Springfield. His background in Moral and Political Philosophy has leveraged his research into the subjectivity of moral experience and the moral implications of machine consciousness.
In this episode, Peter discusses whether machines could ever be granted consciousness. He believes, hypothetically, that we could create such machines, and elaborates from an ethical perspective on why we may want to “curve moral space” in a way that values human-level sentience and moves us toward living harmoniously with such machines.
Dr. Gary Marcus is the Director of the NYU Center for Language and Music, and Professor of Psychology at New York University, and is author of well known books such as The Birth of the Mind, The Algebraic Mind: Integrating Connectionism and Cognitive Science, and the New York Times Editor’s Choice called Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind.
In this episode, Dr. Marcus gives us some insight as to what the brain is good and bad at, and why - in addition to what this might imply for the future of human enhancement.
Dr. Joanne Pransky received her doctorate from Tufts University in the mid 1980’s, and began championing public awareness and exposure to robotics and AI technology, playfully calling herself the “first robot psychiatrist.” Since then, she’s been featured on CNN, The Discovery Channel, the Sci-Fi Channel, and even the Tonight Show with Jay Leno - aiming to expose the world to technology and it’s ethical implications.
In this interview, Dr. Joanne speaks with me about the virtues and vices of how the media portrays AI to the public… and why she likes recent AI movies like “Her” and “Ex Machina,” but questions scandalous newspaper headlines about industrial robots “killing people”, as well as her thoughts about the types of conversations that she believes America (and world) should be having in order to move technology forward safely and fruitfully.
Dr. Hables Gray graduated with a PhD in applied philosophy from UCAL Santa Cruz, and is best known for his writings on technology, war, and cyborgs (the combination of organic and inorganic, the evolved and the invented).
In this interview, Dr. Hables Gray explains his ideas around how seemingly mundane technologies and social media help to blur the line between man and machine, as well as his predictions for how car cyborgs will progress in the coming decades (including the integration of drone technology, brain-machine interface, and more).
Sean Blacknell has spent the last year working on a filmed called “The Future of Work and Death,” based on interviews with futurists, economists, philosophers, and other experts - with an aim to bring the film to Sundance and other prominent festivals in the coming year.
In this interview, Sean explains some of the most meaningful lessons he’s gained about the future of humanity from all of the interviews for his own film.
Dr. Roger Schank received his PhD from Stanford, taught at Yale, and altogether has spent around three decades attempting to solve the big problems of artificial intelligence.
In this interview, Dr. Schank talks about a kind of helpful “teaching” artificial intelligence that would go beyond Siri and help us to make the right decisions at the right times given our own objectives. He explains why he believes such a project is not on Google’s agenda, and what he believes might be required to create such an AI.
Dr. Nick Montfort doesn’t hold Shakespeare and DaVinci as the high water mark of “creativity,” nor does he believe that human creative endeavor is the only worthwhile kind.
In this interview, Dr. Montfort shares some of his own examples of how computers can aide the creative process in ways that might result in “art” that humans aren’t capable of making alone. In addition, he provides his insight as to where the intersections of artificial intelligence and “creativity” might really lie.
Dr. Jonathan Moreno’s book “Mind Wars” has contributed to his current reputation as one of the most prominent bioethicists in America today.
In this interview, Dr. Moreno shares his thoughts about the government agencies like DARPA and the NIH are invested in and involved with the latest biotechnology initiatives, from neuro-prosthetics to psychedelics and beyond. He also shares with us his ideas about how civilian needs are often a prime driver of the direction of biotechnology development (even for behemoths like DARPA).
Dr. Al-Rodhan spent decades studying the human mind, and it helped him form a theory of humanity, its nature, and its technological future. Namely, that our very nature will inevitably bring us to go beyond nature - not merely in the extension of our capacities through devices - but through a literal enhancement and extension of our bodies and minds.
In his belief, human beings are emotional creatures with a moral compass that exists for their own egotistical needs. Our desire for power, profit, pleasure, pride and permanency - says Neyef - will drive us beyond the bounds of our physical condition, and it's the role of governments (not corporations) to regulate that process of enhancement and experimentation for the good of humanity. If you're interested in human motivation and the next 20 years of enhancement technology, this is an interview you won't want to miss.
Dr. Patricia Churchland is UC President's Professor of Philosophy Emerita at the University of California, San Diego. He popular books such as “Braintrust: What Neuroscience Tells Us about Morality” grapple with issues at the intersection of philosophy and neuroscience.
In this interview, Dr. Churchland explains how the evolution of the mammalian brain may have influenced our underlying core moral values, and her belief that society must be strong yet flexible enough to deal with the moral quagmire of new technologies / values / ways of living as we transition into the future..
Tracy Ingram’s mother was misdiagnosed with a brain aneurism and placed on bed rest for two years - a problem that likely resulted from a typo or similar minor error. Tracy founded BioscanR to help turn biological information from patients into more reliable diagnostic data for doctors, and he competed with his idea in the Qualcomm X-Prize.
In this interview, Tracy talks about three reasons why healthcare is often slower to adopt new technologies, as well as his predictions about the coming 10 years of healthcare progress and the innovations that he believes may be most useful for patients and physicians alike.
Dr. Hal Blumenfeld is a pathbreaking neuroscience researcher in the domains of deep brain stimulation and epileptic conditions. His recent Yale research work pertaining to the neurological mechanisms of consciousness and awareness (specially in patients with epilepsy) has garnered quite a bit of attention in recent years.
In this interview, Dr. Blumenfeld speaks with us about what he sees as the most important neuroscience developments of the past decade, his hopes for the next decade ahead, and his ideas about the future of brain-machine interface technologies.
Dr. Rudolph Tanzi is a neuroscientist and renowned researcher at Harvard University. Selected as one of TIME Magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2015 for his groundbreaking alzheimer’s research, Dr. Tanzi also serves as the Director of the Genetics and Aging Research Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).
In this interview, Dr. Tanzi shares his perspective on the relation of thought, the “self,” and free will - as well as his perspective on human enhancement and evolution (which he believes will occur at a biological and genetic level, not through a merger with machines).
Dr. Steve Omohundro earned degrees in physics and mathematics from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Berkeley. Today, most of his best-known work
In this interview, Dr. Omohundro shares his thoughts about how we might “scaffold” our security measures to match the intelligence of our machines in order to prevent them from getting out of hand.
Vivek Wadhwa began as a software entrepreneur and now is a well-known speaker, writer, and Vice President of Academics and Innovation at Singularity University.
In this interview, Mr. Wadhwa shares his heartfelt predictions about what he sees as the complete overhaul of healthcare and education in the coming decades ahead - and the widespread benefits of emerging technology for what he sees as a healthier and more informed future generation.
Dr. Steve Fuller is philosopher and professor at the University of Warwick in the UK. After writing “Humanity 2.0” in 2011, Steve has received increasing attention for his ethical perspective on human enhancement and the transhuman transition.
In this interview, Dr. Fuller covers covers what he considers to be the most important present considerations of transhumanism - namely - the potential economic impacts (and gross inequality) of enhancing humanity. Dr. Fuller shares why he considers these issues as the best path forward for bringing human enhancement concerns to modern politics.
Juan Enriquez gave a TED talk in 2009 called “The next species of human,” and video went viral - and is now one of the most popular futurist talks in TED history. In addition to previously founding the Life Sciences Project at the Harvard Business School, Juan is now managing partner in Excell Venture Management in Boston, MA.
In this interview we discuss Juan’s thoughts about the most relevant technologies that might “tinker with what’s human,” and which such technologies might be the first to require serious ethical consideration from humanity as a whole, in the public and private sectors.
Decades ago, Cornell’s Dr. Joe Halpern wrote a book called “Reasoning with Uncertainty.” In this interview, we discuss alternative approaches to handling large-scale uncertainty - as might be applied to broad concerns such as environmental policy, or the management of hard-to-predict emerging technologies.
Through thought experiments and some philosophical exploration, Prof. Halpern explains some potential alternatives to “probabilities,” and opens up the door to other, potentially more robust methods of managing large, uncertain, important questions for humanity’s future.
Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor became remarkably well-known following her TED talk called “My stroke of insight,” where she explained her experience of having a stroke from her perspective… that is to say: perspective of a neuroscientist. Since then Jill has been featured on Oprah, and her book (with the same title as her TED talk) is available in over 30 languages worldwide.
In this interview, Dr. Taylor explains her perspective on the place and purpose of the left and right hemispheres, and how an understanding of neuroanatomy might help us make sense of our own desires / drives, and help us lead a more fulfilling or productive life.
Dr. John MacCormick is the author of the book “Nine Algorithms That Changed the Future: The Ingenious Ideas That Drive Today's Computers,” and in this interview, he shares some of the fundamental algorithms that support modern artificial intelligence, and his optimistic views on the future of AI.
Dr. Gregory Hickok is working on modeling brain circuits related to hearing and auditory information at the University of California, Irvine.
Listen into this interview to hear what Greg believes might be the grandest application of cognitive neuroscience in the coming decade, and why - when asked about modeling the human brain in the coming decades - he says “I don’t see the brain giving up it’s secrets in the next couple of generations.”
Dr. Nils Nilsson was one of the early researchers in emerging technology back in the 1960s - graduating with his doctorate from Stanford before it had a computer science department.
In this interview, Dr. Nilsson joins me from his retirement residence in Oregon and shares his overview of the history of artificial intelligence - and his thoughts about it’s most meaningful impact in the coming 10-20 years.
Zoltan Istvan doesn’t believe that issues of life extension, genetic modification, and neural prosthetics are the problems for the president in the year 220, but that they’re among the most important considerations of the future of America, and of human life in general.
In this interview, I ask Zoltan what kinds of technology and health initiatives he’d get behind as a president, as well as his own thoughts as to how concerns of merging technology might be brought to the forefront of American awareness (without a disaster, that is).
Gray Scott’s mission is to bring the concerns of the future to the public - and with recent coverage in Psychology Today, New York Post, and the World Future Society, he’s picking up steam.
In this interview, Gray and I discuss the most important societal shifts that he believes are opening up our generation and culture to take issues like life extension and brain-machine interface. We discuss how modern skepticism of religious dogma plays a role in the social shift towards transhumanism.
Dr. Jeffrey Lieberman is no slouch when it comes to understanding the human mind - particularly the diagnoses and treatment of mental illness. In addition to being chair of psychiatry at Columbia University, Dr. Lieberman sits on the advisory board of many of the world’s largest drug companies.
In this particular interview, Dr. Lieberman shares his thoughts around the most transformative technological developments in understanding the mind in the last 10 years - as well has his predictions as to which technologies and approaches will break the most ground in the future of diagnosing and treating mental illnesses.
There are “techno-optimists” and “techno-pessimists”… and there’s those who just don’t know what they’re talking about. Skeptic Magazine’s founder Michael Shermer shares his thoughts on what’s hyped-up and what’s worth considering in the human race to the future.
It’s called “transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS),” haven’t you heard about it? The process involves zapping your brain through subtle electrical stimulation on the outside of the head - and though research has been going on in this field for decades, the mechanisms for it’s effects on mood, memory, and more, are still mostly unknown.
Dr. Brent Williams is the director of the iTeach Center at KSU, and he landed in WIRED magazine for some of his work on tDCS. In this episode, he talks about the potential future of tCDS to enhance normal human function and potentially allow us more control over our emotional state and mental performance, as the technology progresses. It’s enough to make you want to go to Radio Shack and build one yourself.
Dr. James McLurkin works with swarm robots at Rice University, and his unique work on robot communication has landed him on PBS’s “Nova,” in addition to speaking engagements at events like TED and Singularity Summit.
In this episode, Dr. McLurkin discusses how swarm robots have been inspired by insect behavior - and exactly swamp robots are best suited for. In many cases, argues McLurkin, a group of smaller, inexpensive robots can perform a job much better than a single, more capable robot. Dr. James also sheds light on when and how swarm robots might become a part of everyday life and industry in the coming decades.
David Brin is recognized as one of the most iconic futurist fiction writers of our time. With huge bestsellers like “The Postman” (later turned into a movie starring Kevin Costner), David’s work explores the ramifications of human choices of our collective future.
In this interview, David talks about fiction’s unique role in helping humanity find a beneficial future - a job done in large part by pointing out what we want to avoid most, says David. If you’re an entrepreneur, researcher, or writer yourself, David’s insights into “imagination” as a force for good are important to listen closely to.
Regis Kopper runs the Duke Immersive Virtual Environment, or “DiVE.” His research focuses on the interactions of virtual and real humans. In this interview, he discusses his predictions for the non-gaming applications of virtual reality - and the surprising evidence that virtual reality humans might “relate” to us in much the way that real humans do. What happens when we can’t tell the difference?
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Ofer Leidner is co-founder of Happify, and app aimed at supporting behavior change for well-being. In this interview, Ofer explains his views on the potential for technology to influence habits, and where he feels this particular kind of technology might mold our wearable / technologically immersive future.
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Sean Ellis is recognized as the originator of the term “growth hacking,” and is widely recognized as one of the world’s best startup and technology marketers. Heading up growth at companies like DropBox and LogMeIn, Sean has gone on to found Qualaroo, a qualitative data collection startup.
In this interview, Sean discusses the proper use of qualitative data, polling questions, and customer interviews in order to discover a true picture of the customer’s needs in order to deliver a killer product and soaring sales. If you’re involved in a tech startup - or plan to “feel out” an idea for a company or technology of your own - you won’t want to miss this interview.
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Our podcast frequently covers the business and research sides of emerging technology, but in this episode we talk about some of it’s direct applications.
Alisa Brownlee of the ALS Association has been working with assistive technologies for decades, and she explains what truly works best to help weakening ALS patients communicate and live full lives and what kind of developments she’d love to see from the tech and maker communities to help more ALS patients worldwide.
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Ketan Joshi and Vishal Shah of Atheer Labs share their ideas about the immediate future of augmented reality, and how interactive computing can be facilitated though an augmented experience. We explore use-cases of the near future, as well as applications underway now.
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Dan Ostrower gets to work with some amazing and innovative companies at Altitude (a creative consultancy), and has a keen eye for for the future.
A writer for WIRED and a myriad of other publications, Dan shares his thoughts about the pros and cons of our increasingly digital future, and how companies can keep relationships and interaction alive with technology that doesn’t make us lose what’s “human.”
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Ever wanted to run, jump, crawl, or otherwise really MOVE in virtual reality? Virtuix has created a harnesses 3-D treadmill to help people do just that, the Omni.
As product manager at Virtuix, Colton shares his perspective on the future of more “immersive” and physical VR experiences, as well as the applications of said technology well outside the world of gaming. Tune in:
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Max is project head at Birdly, one of virtual reality’s most curious projects. Birdly is a full-body kind of “table” that one lays upon while wearing an Oculus VR headset - and through a combination of arm control (to replicate wings) and fan (to replicate the speed of air in one’s face) - reproduces the experience of flying like a giant hawk.
In this episode, I ask Max about the components of a truly “immersive” VR experience, and about his predictions about the coming decade in VR technology.
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Mr. Kushnir, MBA is current CEO of InifinityAR, an augmented reality company based in Israel. Their augmented reality technology aims to accurately interpret light, shadows, and reflections in real time, in addition to representing the users hands and other objects more accurately in augmented reality space.
In this episode we explore what Mr. Kushnir believes to be the biggest hurdles in augmented reality today, as well as the trajectory of the industry and where he believes AR will have the strongest impact in the coming 5 years.
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John Danaher attained his PhD from University College Cork in Ireland, and presently writes on various topics related to ethics and human enhancement for organizations like the Institute for Ethics and Emergence Technology. He is currently a lecturer in law at NUI Galway.
In this episode, we explore the concept of human "enhancement" from a philosophical and legal standpoint, and consider it's implications in the coming decades of technological development.
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Chris Kelly founded Survata with an idea of changing the way that the survey marketplace works. With a drive to make his company exceptional, Chris applied to Y-Combinator, Silicon Valley's hottest startup accelerator.
In this interview, he talks about his advice for getting into an accelerator, how to make the most of the experience, and how to keep up the momentum of an accelerator when you leave - making the entire experience as beneficial as possible.
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Rand Fishkin started SEOmoz.org in 2004, while working with his mother in a small marketing company she'd started in Seattle. After years of languishing in obscurity, Rand's little site turned out to be one of the most respected sources for quality "white hat" SEO advice, and creator of a variety of SEO-related tools for businesses.
Hitting 100 employees in 2012, the business continues to grow, and it's working hard on expanding its offerings to business owners and marketers everywhere.
In THIS interview, Rand tells us what's new (and what's NOT new) about SEO today - and what companies he admires for phenomenal content marketing that any startup could learn from.
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Prof Nick Bostrom is widely respected as the premier academic thinker on topics related to strong artificial intelligence, transhumanism, and existential risks. His talks, books, and articles cover all of these topics, and his vocation involves bringing attention and critical thought to these most pressing human issues.
He is the Founder and Director of the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford, and author of the new book "Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies." In this episode, Nick and I explore the topic of identifying "existential" human risks (those that could wipe out life forever), and how individuals and groups might mediate these risks on a grand scale to better secure the flourishing of humanity in the coming decades and centuries.
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Anton Þórólfsson is working on letting you work from "home"... or from the Amazon jungle, or from the moon. Well... not the actual moon, or your real "home," but a virtual one. His company, MURE VR (he sits today as co-founder and COO) is working on allowing indiviuals to interact with all of their computer programs in a totally virtual world thanks to the help of the Oculus Rift.
This would allow a user to strap on a headset and headphones, and escape into whatever virtual environment he or she liked, accessing a potentially unlimited number of "screens" (displays) and computer programs all at once. The task, as you might image, isn't easy, and in this interview, Anton talks to us not only about how the entire idea of "work" might change in the coming decades, but about the technological hurdles that companies like his will have to cross to get there.
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Dr. Christoph Guger is founder of g.Tec, a company that focuses on creating devices and parts for the field of brain-machine interface. In this particular interview, Christoph shares with us the direction and progress of brain-machine interface, as well as explaining the concept of "embodiment," where a person truly "feels" that a device controlled by their thoughts is a part of themselves, and extension of themselves. Where might these technologies make their jump into the mainstream? Listen to Christoph's interview here.
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Augmented reality, for the most part, is still relegated to smartphones and relatively novel headset experiences. We've come a long way in the last 15 years since Georgia Tech's Blair MacIntyre first got involved in AR, and in this episode he explains what the future might look like as get closer and closer to an immersed AR experience.
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Brown's BrainGate project is hailed as one of the premier research projects in the entire field of brain-machine interface. Researchers here have given paralyzed patients the ability to move robotic arms and check emails with their thoughts alone - thanks to experimental neural implants in their motor cortex. Dr. Beata Jarosiewicz has been with BrainGate project for years, with a specific focus on interpreting neurological signals and turning them into actionable outputs.
In this interview, she talks about the science of making sense of the brain's inner electrical activity, and how it might be used to control nearly any device if calibrated correctly. The ramifications here are increadible.
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Ariel Garten is the founder of Interaxon, the neurofeedback company that developed the well-known Muse headband, one of the first "non-invasive" brain-machine interface headbands on the market. Ariel talks about why the Muse headband is focused on helping users calm their minds and gain clarity and focus, and on what other non-invasive BMI technologies may allow for in the coming 5 to 10 years.
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Joe Rampolla was like any other police officer assigned to a cybercrime unit. But after seeing the posibilities for extreme good and potential abuse with VR and AR technologies, he wanted to go deeper. He's not one of the most connected people in the Augmented Reality community, and in this interview he talks about the considerations that responsible people might want to make now with respect to the "good" and "bad" use of technology.
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Dr. Mihail Lebedev is a widely published brain-machine interface (BMI) researcher currently at Duke University. In this episode, we cover the past of BMI technology, dating back to the 1950's, into a surprising and unknowable future of enhanced human potential.
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Dr. Amit Goswami is a theoretical quantum physicist, and renown speaker and author on the topic of understanding consciousness and human existence. The western view of the mind implies that what is real is physical, and what is not physical is not real. Dr Goswami speaks to his experience in physics - and eastern perspective of the mind - that might just shake your current assumptions.
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Waygo is a company that involves more aumented reality and artificial intelligence than most of us would understand, but they've managed to do real-time translation of asian languages with no connection to the internet. In this episode, Waygo founder Ryan Rogowski talks about how he got into an accelerator, raised serious money from the infamous 500 Startups fund, and got featured in the New York Times. Startup founders - tune in.
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"Bunnies in Newspapers" is what Trak Lord thinks of as "gimmicky augmented realty." You know the stuff, the little character that jumps from the magazine page when you hover your smartphone over it. It usually doesn't ad much value to the user's experience, some people feel that it might be a detriment to the industry. So what does the head of US marketing for one of the world's first Augmented reality companies think WILL be helpful for the field of AR? Listen up.
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Howard Rheingold has a knack for understanding the future. In the 1980's he wrote "Tools for Thought," a book about the personal computer and the coming era of mind-expanding technology, and recently he's published "Net Smart" about how humanity can help itself through collaboration on the web. He teaches a class on collaboration at Standford, and in this episode, shares some of his biggest lessons about the past and potentially revolutionary future of how humans share and collaborate to make everyone's life better.
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There's a lot of talk about Augmented Reality, and when it might become "mainstream." Many leading experts believe that workers who are in front of "screens" all day (office and desk workers) might not be the first to be immerser in augmeted reality - it might just be the mechanic and the warehouse worker wearing headsets and seeing holographic displays in front of them. Augmate CEO Pete Wassell explains talks about his predictions.
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Peep Laja has worked with large and small companies to help them convert more visitors to leads and buyers. As co-founder of the firm Markitect, he's seen it all, and he breaks down the common mistakes that startups make when split-testing. My guess is that if you're a founder or marketer, you're making these same errors - here's how to convert MORE.
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Dr. Gholson Lyon is a psychologist, speaker, and researcher at Cold Spring Harbor. He is outspoken about the impact of genomic research in the medical world. In this episode, we talk about the impact of genetic research and integrating of the personal genome in the coming 5 years.
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Ariel Waldman loves space, and once wanted to work for NASA. Badly. So badly, in fact, that NASA could sense it when they read her letter to them - stating that she wanted to be involved in any way. Though she got to learn about dark matter and black holes, and though she got to send objects into space, she realized she didn't need NASA for this job.
So, she took off to start SpaceHack.org, a site dedicated to getting "regular" people involved in space exploration via disruptive citizen science projects that almost anyone has access to. In this episode we explore the ways that science fiction has (and can continue to) shape the future, and how citizen science is allowing people from around the world to help break ground in science, and get credit for it.
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Randal Koene, Ph.D. is CEO and Founder of CarbonCopies.org and one of the world's foremost experts on neurology as it relates to uploading human minds. "Uploading" is still the stuff of science fiction, but it's a life mission for Dr. Koene - and legendary futurists and scientists like Ray Kurzweil expect it to be possible within just a few decades of progress.
In this interview, we talk about how far along science has come now, and what aspects of research need to evolve in order to replicate human consciousness in another substrate.
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Dr. Patrick Hopkins is a philosopher and bioethicist. In this interview, we don't contemplate traditional bioethic concerns of animal testing or disease treatment. Instead, we discus some important considerations of how emerging technologies might alter our bodies, minds, personalities, and gender - and indeed, what "human" might imply in the first place.
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In this episode - I interview Brad Burge, Marketing and Communications Director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS).
Brad gives an overview of the real history of psychedelics, where they got a bad name and how they can be used now for the benefit of the human mind and psychoterapy.
BrainGate is one of the world's foremost research projects in Brain Machine Interface. Dr. Janos Perge works with BrainGate at Brown University, and offers a deeply insightfu perspective of what problems brain-machine interface may be able to solve in the coming years.
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"3-D" printing is a hot term right now, and it sure makes for some fun YouTube videos and interesting prototypes - but where is it's "transformative" effect being felt today? Where is it most likely to gain traction in the coming 5 years?
In this episode, we talk to Jeremy Fryer-Biggs, co-founder of Mebotics, a personal 3-D printer company - specifically about 3-D printings present and future impact on work and life. Tune into the episode here, and remember to find similar articles online at:
In this episode - I interview Chris Mirabile, Managing Director at Launchpad Venture Group. Chris named one of XConomy's "Top Angel Investors in New England" for 2012 and formerly served as CFO for IONA Technologies PLC.
Chris discusses the important tenets & principles behind successful angel investing along with insights on tuning out the "noise" and staying alert for various market signals.
In this episode, I interview Tom Pick, a Digital Marketing & PR Director at KC Associates. We focus on the "Dos & Don'ts" of B2B marketing for startups & Tom mentions tactical & strategic advice for new client/customer acquisition & B2B relationship building.
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In this episode, I interview Douglas Burdett who is the founder of Artillery Marketing.
Douglas discusses the importance of "zero'ing in" on buyer persona along with the nuances & key differences of marketing B2B vs. B2C.
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In this episode, I interview Co-Founder & Partner of NextView Ventures, David Beisel. NextView Ventures focuses on consumer web, mobile, SaaS, and other internet startups.
During our interview, I probe David about the strategic nuances & details of starting a venture fund and the important elements of searching for other investors/growing your fund.
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In this episode, I interview Howard G. Zaharoff from Morse Barnes-Brown Pendleton. With over 30 years in business law, intellectual property & technology - Howard helps companies not only secure their assets from infringement but also secure various licensing & distribution channels and other strategic alliances.
During this interview - Howard focuses on common mistakes & oversights that companies often make when pursuing patents, trademark & other licensing arrangements. He also discusses several valuable resources that companies can access online when researching strategies to protect their intellectual property.
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For More Information, Visit the HUB of Startups / Business in Emerging Technology. From Robotic Limbs to Getting Angel Investment, from Biotech to Intellectual Property:
Interested in the Future of Humanity and the Ramifications of Emerging Tech? Sentient Potential Covers the Ethical Considerations and Future Projections at the Crossroads of Technology and Consciousness:
In this episode, I interview CEO/Founder of Clarity.fm, Dan Martell. Dan grew up in a small town in Canada, where he began his entrepreneurial career & quickly learned that solid business advice was hard to come by.
After building a multi-million dollar consultancy, Dan went on to found Clarity.fm, a service for on-demand business advice. In this interview - Dan shares the 3 MUSTS for Startup Marketing.
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For More Information, Visit the HUB of Startups / Business in Emerging Technology. From Robotic Limbs to Getting Angel Investment, from Biotech to Intellectual Property:
Interested in the Future of Humanity and the Ramifications of Emerging Tech? Sentient Potential Covers the Ethical Considerations and Future Projections at the Crossroads of Technology and Consciousness:
http://www.SentientPotential.com
In this episode, I interview Graham Lawlor, Founder/CEO of Ultra Light Startups. In this interview - Graham Lawlor gives his thoughts on individual founders vs. startups founded by teams and shares what he believes to be the most important focus areas that any bootstrapped startup should have right out of the gate.
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For More Information, Visit the HUB of Startups / Business in Emerging Technology. From Robotic Limbs to Getting Angel Investment, from Biotech to Intellectual Property:
Interested in the Future of Humanity and the Ramifications of Emerging Tech? Sentient Potential Covers the Ethical Considerations and Future Projections at the Crossroads of Technology and Consciousness:
In this episode, I interview Arthur Hughes, founder of The Database Marketing Institute, Ltd. From IBM to Nestle’, Arthur has helped set up databases for companies with massive market share and he’s helped them market “at scale.”
In this interview - Arthur shares his perspectives on smart email marketing strategies. One must-hear takeaway for any startup is Arthur's three easy-to-implement email marketing “musts."
You can read the the full article of my interview with Arthur Hughes here
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For More Information, Visit the HUB of Startups / Business in Emerging Technology. From Robotic Limbs to Getting Angel Investment, from Biotech to Intellectual Property:
Interested in the Future of Humanity and the Ramifications of Emerging Tech? Sentient Potential Covers the Ethical Considerations and Future Projections at the Crossroads of Technology and Consciousness:
In this episode, I interview Justin Brooke, Founder of IMScalable and renowned Media Buyer & Consultant. Justin talks about his strategies for setting up Facebook campaigns & implementation tips for startups to effectively leverage Facebook ads to scale their customer base and revenue.
For More Information, Visit the HUB of Startups / Businesses in Emerging Technology. From Robotic Limbs to Getting Angel Investment, from Biotech to Intellectual Property:
Interested in the Future of Humanity and the Ramifications of Emerging Tech? Sentient Potential Covers the Ethical Considerations and Future Projections at the Crossroads of Technology and Consciousness:
In this episode, my business partner Edmond Lowell hosts an "Investor's Perspective" interview with Technology entrepreneur & investor Sergey Gribov.
For More Information, Visit the HUB of Startups / Business in Emerging Technology. From Robotic Limbs to Getting Angel Investment, from Biotech to Intellectual Property:
Interested in the Future of Humanity and the Ramifications of Emerging Tech? Sentient Potential Covers the Ethical Considerations and Future Projections at the Crossroads of Technology and Consciousness:
Dan Bacher is a Senior Research and Development Engineer at Brown University. He is also the Founder of the Speak Your Mind Foundation, which is a nonprofit organization that emerged out of the BrainGate lab at Brown University and Massachusetts General Hospital.
In this interview, Dan speaks about the synthesis of electrical engineering and neuroscience, which ultimately led to the creation of Brown's BrainGate Group & the Speak Your Mind Foundation. Bacher discusses the future of assistive technologies & the new technologies that BrainGate is currently developing.
For More Information, Visit the HUB of Startups / Business in Emerging Technology. From Robotic Limbs to Getting Angel Investment, from Biotech to Intellectual Property:
Interested in the Future of Humanity and the Ramifications of Emerging Tech? Sentient Potential Covers the Ethical Considerations and Future Projections at the Crossroads of Technology and Consciousness:
Josh Maher started off in Microsoft, and since has become engaged in nearly every level of the startup ecosystem in Seattle. His blog at www.JoshMaher.com covers his musings in investing, networking, and more.
Now he runs TechCafe (a startup networking event), and is involved in a number of other events in the Seattle startup scene.
In this interview, Josh talks about the way HE likes to be approached by founders (as an investor himself), and goes into detail about WHERE and HOW to meet investors, and a few simple "no-no"s of contacting networkers (maybe you've done a few of these yourself).
For More Information, Visit the HUB of Startups / Business in Emerging Technology. From Robotic Limbs to Getting Angel Investment, from Biotech to Intellectual Property:
Interested in the Future of Humanity and the Ramifications of Emerging Tech? Sentient Potential Covers the Ethical Considerations and Future Projections at the Crossroads of Technology and Consciousness:
Anyone awarded 30 honorary degrees is likely to be enough of an expert to have on the podcast here at TechEmergence.
Dr. Susan Greenfield of Oxford University is not only one of the world's best known psychologists, she's also a member of England's House of Lords. In 2000 she was elected to an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians and in 2007 to an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. She was appointed Chancellor of Heriot Watt University in 2005.
She is the author Outspoken about many issues related to emerging technology, this in this interview, we hone in on her thoughts on the ammeliorative and potentially post-human potential of drugs and brain-machine interfaces.
For More Information, Visit the HUB of Startups / Business in Emerging Technology. From Robotic Limbs to Getting Angel Investment, from Biotech to Intellectual Property:
Interested in the Future of Humanity and the Ramifications of Emerging Tech? Sentient Potential Covers the Ethical Considerations and Future Projections at the Crossroads of Technology and Consciousness:
Emerson Spartz is a middle school dropout. Not because he was forced to work on a family farm, or because he moved to a foreign country, but because he wanted to homeschool himself - and his parents permitted the transition. In addition, the 12-year old was already in business and didn't want to wait any longer.
In 2009, the 22-year-old Spartz founded Spartz Media, creator of - among dozens of other successful websites - www.OMG-Facts.com, which by itself receives 30 pageviews per month. Virality became Emerson's focus, and his company of content creators and data scientists continue to pump out successful site after successful site, all based on psychological and empirical notions of "virality."
In this episode, Emerson goes through a number of quick and immediately useful tips for any startup or organization looking to add "virality" into their marketing efforts.
For More Information, Visit the HUB of Startups / Business in Emerging Technology. From Robotic Limbs to Getting Angel Investment, from Biotech to Intellectual Property:
Interested in the Future of Humanity and the Ramifications of Emerging Tech? Sentient Potential Covers the Ethical Considerations and Future Projections at the Crossroads of Technology and Consciousness:
In this episode, my business partner Edmond Lowell hosts an "Investor's Perspective" interview with Emerging Markets investor Dean van Drasek.
For More Information, Visit the HUB of Startups / Business in Emerging Technology. From Robotic Limbs to Getting Angel Investment, from Biotech to Intellectual Property:
Interested in the Future of Humanity and the Ramifications of Emerging Tech? Sentient Potential Covers the Ethical Considerations and Future Projections at the Crossroads of Technology and Consciousness:
Why does raising money from family sometimes make Angel investors believe even more in a startup founder? How do Angel "funds" and independent Angel groups differ in their dynamics for funding startups? In this episode, get the investor perspective with Sammy Abdullah from the Dallas Angel Network.
For More Information, Visit the HUB of Startups / Business in Emerging Technology. From Robotic Limbs to Getting Angel Investment, from Biotech to Intellectual Property:
Interested in the Future of Humanity and the Ramifications of Emerging Tech? Sentient Potential Covers the Ethical Considerations and Future Projections at the Crossroads of Technology and Consciousness:
Dr. Jessica Richman is a character, but a brilliant one at that. This Oxford / Stanford educated scientist is working on getting the world of citizen scientists united to crack the code of the human microbiome - the countless "bugs" that live on an inside us - in order to determine their relevance for our health.
In this interview she talks about her unique startup story with uBiome, and the entrepreneurial opportunities in the new world of genetic data.
For More Information, Visit the HUB of Startups / Business in Emerging Technology. From Robotic Limbs to Getting Angel Investment, from Biotech to Intellectual Property:
Interested in the Future of Humanity and the Ramifications of Emerging Tech? Sentient Potential Covers the Ethical Considerations and Future Projections at the Crossroads of Technology and Consciousness:
Bob Lamkin is a veteran of the sales and marketing world. Having held a number of high positions (currently with Marketing Advocate Inc.) and authoring his own book on sales, he's now managing director for Bay Angels in Boston, MA. In this interview Bob talks with me about some common sales pitfalls of startup companies - and how you can avoid them.
For More Information, Visit the HUB of Startups / Business in Emerging Technology. From Robotic Limbs to Getting Angel Investment, from Biotech to Intellectual Property:
Interested in the Future of Humanity and the Ramifications of Emerging Tech? Sentient Potential Covers the Ethical Considerations and Future Projections at the Crossroads of Technology and Consciousness:
http://www.SentientPotential.com
Paul Silva started as an entrepreneur with a crazy idea: "What if we could create video games for blind people?" As you can imagine, getting the attention of investors wasn't easy, but despite a limited market and an admittedly off-the-wall concept, Paul made it work, and swiftly got involved in the limited (but earnest) startup scene of Western Massachusetts. He now runs a maker space (ClickSpace), manages a mentorship group for new startups and startup investors (Valley Venture Mentors), and continues to keep the plates spinning to get all aspects of his area's startup ecosystem flourishing.
In this interview, Paul shares some insights on what startup founders and startup teams can do to get access to capitol and expertise within their ecosystem, as well as the lesser-known ways of tapping into the expertise already around them.
For More Information, Visit the HUB of Startups / Business in Emerging Technology. From Robotic Limbs to Getting Angel Investment, from Biotech to Intellectual Property:
Interested in the Future of Humanity and the Ramifications of Emerging Tech? Sentient Potential Covers the Ethical Considerations and Future Projections at the Crossroads of Technology and Consciousness:
Dayakar went from entrepreneurship to the VC world, and hasn't lost a bit of his enthusiasm for finding opportunities for an agile, ambitious team. In this interview, he talks to us at TechEmergence about his ideas of how startups can make a big opportunity with the current state of big data (and some successful case studies to boot).
For More Information, Visit the HUB of Startups / Business in Emerging Technology. From Robotic Limbs to Getting Angel Investment, from Biotech to Intellectual Property:
Interested in the Future of Humanity and the Ramifications of Emerging Tech? Sentient Potential Covers the Ethical Considerations and Future Projections at the Crossroads of Technology and Consciousness:
Dr. Charles Sidman recieved his Masters and then PhD in Harvard in Immunology - and made the transition from tenured professor to seasoned investor. Charles takes his insights in the "process of discovery" in research to be a more rational investor, and in this episode, he shares some useful advice about how startup founders might tweak their presentation for different groups or investors.
For More Information, Visit the HUB of Startups / Business in Emerging Technology. From Robotic Limbs to Getting Angel Investment, from Biotech to Intellectual Property:
Interested in the Future of Humanity and the Ramifications of Emerging Tech? Sentient Potential Covers the Ethical Considerations and Future Projections at the Crossroads of Technology and Consciousness:
A task doesn't need to be completed by a robot perfectly suited for that task. Instead, it can be completed by a team of robots with a mission, and an ability to learn. This notion could change the course of development in robotics - from lunar exploration to excavation.
By programming different teams of robots with different sensors access and different "libraries" of behavior patterns, ASU's Dr. Jekan Thanga is able to "evolve" the proper set of inputs and behaviors that make a team complete a complex job right. How might this apply to the future of clean energy? Tune into this week's podcast to find out.
For More Information, Visit the HUB of Startups / Business in Emerging Technology. From Robotic Limbs to Getting Angel Investment, from Biotech to Intellectual Property:
Interested in the Future of Humanity and the Ramifications of Emerging Tech? Sentient Potential Covers the Ethical Considerations and Future Projections at the Crossroads of Technology and Consciousness:
When most people comment on robots having feelings, they're talking about emotional intelligence. Eduardo Torres-Jara is talking about the sense of touch.
As he explains, touch is an often neglected robotic "sense," and it's a sense that we as humans are more likely to take for granted than sight or sound. Why does touch make for safer robots in the factory, or robotcs better able to walk upright? Find out in this week's podcast.
For More Information, Visit the HUB of Startups / Business in Emerging Technology.
From Robotic Limbs to Getting Angel Investment, from Biotech to Intellectual Property:
Interested in the Future of Humanity and the Ramifications of Emerging Tech? Sentient Potential Covers the Ethical Considerations and Future Projections at the Crossroads of Technology and Consciousness:
John build business number 1, then sold it (landscaping company). He then got his MBA, and built business number 2, then sold it (engineering / manufacturing company). His focus then shifted to investing, where John actively invests with the other members of Cherry Stone Angle group in Rhode Island.
In this interview, John covers the essential preparation steps that entrepreneurs should make before stepping up the angel investors, as well as some of the pitfalls he's seem some startups fall into when it comes to presenting / pitching their idea to investors. This interview will be of interest to anyone who wants to understand an investor's point of view - particularly from the standpoint of angel investments.
For More Information, Visit the HUB of Startups / Business in Emerging Technology. From Robotic Limbs to Getting Angel Investment, from Biotech to Intellectual Property:
www.TechEmergence.com
Interested in the Future of Humanity and the Ramifications of Emerging Tech? Sentient Potential Covers the Ethical Considerations and Future Projections at the Crossroads of Technology and Consciousness:
www.SentientPotential.com
With a burning desire to combine his passions for digital fabrication, biology and computer science, Charles Fracchia came to MIT and Harvard eager to learn. Going to “bio to bits” (gleaning meaningful information from biological data) is something that Charles had never had an opportunity to do at such a high level, and he had high expectations.
“I thought: Oh, surely, I’m coming to these awesome labs here in Boston… I’m sure I’ll come in and have an awesome dashboard to work with, like the movie Iron Man. I’ll have my cell growth rate here, heart rate here… you know… something fantastic.”As it turns out, the technology some of the best labs are using to extract data from biology has – at least in some respects – stayed the safe for half a century. Charles was shocked “Then I’d get this blank look like… well… here’s your notebook and your timer.”
[ Listen to the Entire Episode ]
For More Information, Visit the HUB of Startups / Business in Emerging Technology.
From Robotic Limbs to Getting Angel Investment, from Biotech to Intellectual Property:
www.TechEmergence.com
Interested in the Future of Humanity and the Ramifications of Emerging Tech? Sentient Potential Covers the Ethical Considerations and Future Projections at the Crossroads of Technology and Consciousness:
www.SentientPotential.com
Sagie Davidovich has founded and served as CTO for a number of startups in the technology field, including the semantic web. Now, Sagie's focus has shifted with his new company SparkBeyond - to the future of software. Namely, it's increasing adaptability to entirely new levels of modification and evolution. Sagie discusses his own work in developing "Liquidware," and the forces at play today in the evolution of software.
More Information, Visit the HUB of Startups / Business in Emerging Technology. From Robotic Limbs to Getting Angel Investment, from Biotech to Intellectual Property:
Interested in the Future of Humanity and the Ramifications of Emerging Tech? Sentient Potential Covers the Ethical Considerations and Future Projections at the Crossroads of Technology and Consciousness:
Neil Patel co-founder of KISSmetrics, CrazyEgg, and HelloBar - and has for years toured the country speaking on web marketing and web business. Many people know him from his massively popular blog "QuickSprout" (www.quicksprout.com), or from his many appearances at major web and web business events.
In this episode, I pick Neil's brain with regards to some common questions around founding a fast-growing company, and bringing fresh talent onboard.
For more interviews and insights on the crossroads of Emerging Technology, Investment and Entrepreneurship, visit:
www.TechEmergence.com
Ari Popper is a renown consultant and businessman in the technology domain. Also an avid writer - Ari's present business venture at SciFutures involves crafting a story and positive, flourishing future trajectory for companies. His other company, A2O Technologies, uses emerging technology (like augmented reality [AR] and 3-D printing) to bring those visions to life.
Learn more online at:
www.Sentientpotential.com
www.Techemergence.com
Peter Voss started a technology company as a young man and brought it to the Johannesburg stock exchange, and sold it. Financially independent, Peter explored research in artificial intelligence, and then came back into business ten years later with his company "Adaptive Artificial Intelligence."
In our interview, we discuss the applications / ramifications of AI in business, as well as Peter's beliefs as to how genuine exploration of general intelligence is in many ways negated by commercial interest.
For more interviews:
Dr. Thomas Ray spent years studying life in the rainforest after earning his PhD in Biology from Harvard. Years later - fascinated with evolution and the idea of replicating the evolutionary process, he founded the Tierra project - one of the first successful research projects to replicate evolutionary adaptation in a digital environment.
In our interview here, we discuss Dr. Ray's views on the potential impossibility of a man-machine merger, or of machines housing consciousness. In addition, we talk about the very real possibility of biological enhancement, and Dr. Ray's concerns about how we might already be "losing our humanity."
For more, visit: SentientPotential.com
Klint Finley has written for a vast number of technology media sources, including TechCrunch - and his present job with WIRED. One of his most popular topics is "Big Data," and in this interview we break down this buzz-word into an understanding of it's meaning and it's implications (including potentially unexpected ways it's being leveraged today).
For the full interview and article visit:
Dr. Helgi Helgason points out the the field of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) has really only been around since 2008, but that at last there is an interdisciplinary effort to attain a level of general intelligence in machines. In our interview we talk about his research, the most promising applications of AGI, and potential issues with the development of the field today.
Full interview online now at: SentientPotential.com
Dr. Robin Hanson is a recognized thought leader in the ramifications of emerging technology on economics and society. Being a featured speaker at the Singularity Summit, a research advisor for the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, and a prolific writer on the topic of existential risk and emerging technology.
In this interview, we cover the trouble of honestly looking at future topics, and how current "future" issues are often just sensationalized versions or present concerns. Dr. Hanson says "Few people are ACTUALLY focused on the ACTUAL future." How can we improve, innovate, and collaborate despite this?
Listen in.
For additional insights from this interview, visit:
http://sentientpotential.com/dr-robin-hanson-on-the-difficulty-of-making-progress-towards-beneficial-future/
Aubrey de Grey is possibly the most well-known proponent of the anti-aging movement. His work at the SENS foundation has been pivotal in bringing attention and legitimate scientific gusto to the problem of eliminating aging as a cause of death and detriment. What does he think about "death as a good thing," or about the progress made thus far on curing aging? Tune into the intereview here.
Dr. Ben Goertzel is widely recognized as the father of Artificial General Intelligence - or the study of super-human artificial intelligence that is not limited to a certain subject, activity, or domain. Through his leadership this "AGI" field has taken shape, and his leadership at the OpenCog Foundation continues to be a driving force in the progress towards human-level intelligence in machines.
In this interview we discuss the status and future of AI, as well as some of Ben's own predictions and projects. For more information, check out www.TechEmergence.com or see the full interview article online at:
http://sentientpotential.com/ben-goertzel-interview-humans-not-the-sharpest-pencil-in-the-pack/
As far back as Homer's Illiad (and beyond), man has written about creating autonata to do the tasks we don't want to do. Generally, this is the dull, the dirty, and the dangerous work that no human would want to do. Interestingly, in most - if not all - of the historical examples of robot and android servants, they turn against their creators and lead to their downfall. Coincidence? Is this an engrained fear in the human psyche, beyond the effects of culture?
Dr. Kevin LaGrandeur "wrote the book" on the history of our thinking about android servants, and sheds some fascinating light on how these historical perspective may influence and even define our perspectives on robots and androids today. Tune in!
What's up with the Japanese and all their robots? What makes the Japanese perspective on robotics and technology so much different than out own here in America?
Reno has spent over a dozen years in Japan, and continues to be a prolific writer and contributor in the domains of transhumanism, emerging technology, technology and social change, and robotics. In this interview we delve into the social and religious ideals that may account for the Japanese appraoch and emphasis in technology, as well as the future of emerging technology in general. How do the ideals of Shintoism play a part in the development of Androids? Tune into this episode to find out.
How does the development of video games relate to AI's increasing role in our lives? How can games provide us with insight for applications everywhere? Jeff Orkin is a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from MIT, and co-founder of GiantOtter, a technology company built around Jeff's own work at MIT - where he took the data from real people playing "roles" in video games, and used that data (rather than some pre-programmed notions or ideas of his own) to create virtual "characters" to interact with. In this interview we talk about the future of Jeff's own innovations, as well as the progression and proliferation of artificial intelligence itself.
Massimiliano is CEO of Neurala, a Boston-based Robotics Startup company whose mission is to develop autonomy in machines. In this interview, we talk about the founding of the Startup team, Massimiliano's advice to keeping a diverse team cohesive, and his predictions for the ramifications of robotics and "telepresence" in society and work. Some notable quotes: "People will drive to work less often, and 'beam' to work more often," "People will not do dull tasks, they will be robot managers." Needless to say, it gets interesting.
Karl F. MacDorman received his PhD in Machine Learning from Cambridge University, and went on to teach at Osaka University - where he worked with some of the world's top roboticists. His research and writings are widely published, and his past experience as a CTO of two different venture companies gives him an even wider scope of the applications and implications of emerging technology. Here we discuss the potential of moving beyond human potential.
Jim Karkanias is a Partner in Applied Research and Technology at Microsoft. His formal training is in the domain of information systems, and he's now working with a team at Microsoft (Health Solutions Group) in the area of genetic technologies. His perspective on the seeming inevitability of human enhancement involves Positivism in medicine, and taking biology / genetics from a "black box" to a "white box" situation (understanding the real functions and mechanisms of what makes us tick).
Tim Stevens is Editor in Chief at Engadget, and he's one of the first people outside of Google to wear Google Glass. In this podcast, Tim talks about his experience with "Glass" (as it is often called), in addition to some potential visions of future augmentation, and the natural extensions of technologies like Glass. We then explore potential possiblities and concerns of Virtual Reality, Personal Security, and the reasons behind the spread of technology use.
En liten tjänst av I'm With Friends. Finns även på engelska.